Young Abu Sayyaf members behind teacher's beheading

Manila: Young members of the Abu Sayyaf were behind the recent beheading of a public school head teacher in Sulu, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said.

Puno, in TV interviews, said young, drug-crazed members of the western Mindanao-based Abu Sayyaf were responsible for the beheading of Gabriel Canizares, principal of the Kanague Elementary School in Patikul town.

Canizares was abducted last October 18. On Monday, his severed head was discovered dumped at a petrol station in the capital town of Jolo.

Puno said the decapitation was apparently meant to send a strong message of terror to the people of Sulu, which recently has been very expressive of their opposition to the rising violence in the southern island.

"The beheading was unexpected. All along we were thinking that Canizares' family are engaged in efforts for his safe release when suddenly, this happened," he said. Puno said Canizares was abducted by the Abu Sayyaf group led by Radullan Sahiron, adding that there were reports that some of the kidnappers were under 18 and a possible motive for the execution was revenge.

"Canizares' kidnappers were minors and based on the information that we had gathered, some of them had lost relatives during encounters with marines during the time of the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] hostage crisis," Puno said.