'Morally problematic' assassination photo wins World Press Photo competition

The winning image shows the gunman, off-duty police Mevlut Mert Altintas, shouting while raising his left hand and holding his pistol on the other. Lying on the floor behind him is the body of the slain ambassador.

"It was extremely hot, like I had boiled water on my head, then very cold, very cold. Extremely dangerous," Ozbilici said in an interview. "But at the same time I understood that this was big history, it was history, [a] very, very important incident."

The veteran AP photographer added that his experience kicked in immediately after the shooting took place.

"I immediately decided to do my job because I could be wounded, maybe die, but at least I have to represent good journalism," he said.

The winners of the prestigious competition were announced on Monday, with a jury awarding prizes in eight categories to 45 photographers.

Image of the year: Ozbilici's photo captured both the gunman and his victim, just moments after the shooting [AP]

Submissions were made by 5,034 photographers from 125 countries.

"Burhan's striking image was the result of skill and experience, composure under extreme pressure and the dedication and sense of mission that mark AP journalists worldwide," said AP Executive Editor Sally Buzbee. "We are enormously proud of his accomplishment."

While many have lauded Ozbilici's achievement, chair of the competition's jury, Stuart Franklin, on Monday explained why he voted against it.

"It's a photograph of a murder, the killer and the slain, both seen in the same picture, and morally as problematic to publish as a terrorist beheading," Frankin wrote in The Guardian.

"To be clear, my moral position is not that the well-intentioned photographer should be denied the credit he deserves; rather that I feared we'd be amplifying a terrorist's message through the additional publicity that the top prize attracts".

Other winning images from the competition reflected the diverse range of topics that grabbed headlines in 2016, from conflict in the Middle East to the migrant crisis, the Black Lives Matter movement and the Olympic games.