http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=128305&d=10&m=11&y=2009
Tuesday 10 November 2009 (23 Dhul Qa`dah 1430)
Sayyaf beheads kidnapped man after family fails to pay
Al Jacinto | Arab News
ZAMBOANGA CITY: Abu Sayyaf gunmen beheaded a school principal they
kidnapped in Sulu province in the southern Philippines after his family failed
to pay ransom.
Security officials said the head of Gabriel Canizares was discovered in a
bag left at a gas station in the capital town of Jolo at around 5 a.m.
The kidnappers initially demanded two million pesos for his liberty and
eventually lowered this to one million pesos. His body is still missing.
The 36-year old principal of the Kanague Elementary School in Patikul
town was kidnapped Oct. 19 in the town of Patikul in Sulu.
Canizares was in a jeep returning home to Jolo when a dozen gunmen
flagged down the vehicle and took him away in front of his terrified Muslim
teachers in the village of Tanum.
Teachers earlier appealed to the government in Manila to give importance
and attention to Canizares in the same way as that of the kidnapped Irish
Catholic priest Michael Sinnott.
The 79-year old Sinnott was taken at gunpoint by six men from his house
in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province in Mindanao on Oct. 11.
The Abu Sayyaf is a small, but the most violent rebel group tagged by the
police and military as behind the spate of attacks and terrorism in the
troubled region.
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