Across Asia: Philippines

Rebels behead teacher

The Philippine government yesterday promised to hunt down Al-Qaida-linked militants suspected of beheading a schoolteacher whose family failed to raise a ransom demanded by his kidnappers.

Workers at a gas station on southern Jolo Island found the severed head of Gabriel Canizares, 36, left in a bag three weeks after suspected Abu Sayyaf militants stopped a passenger minibus and dragged him away in front of his colleagues, said regional military commander Major General Benjamin Dolorfino.