COTABATO, the Philippines, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Philippine security forces has recovered the headless body of state-school principal captive in the volatile southern Philippines.

    Kabir Hayudini, mayor of Patikul, said on Sunday that Canizares body was found by authorities at around 02:45 p.m. Saturday in a shallow grave in the village of Maligay.

    "We turned over the remain to the family," he said.

    Suspected Al-Qaida affiliated militants beheaded Gabriel Canizares, 36, principal of Kanague Elementary School in the township of Patikul, Sulu, whom they abducted on Oct. 18.

    The decapitated head of victim Gabriel Canizares was found in the town of Jolo last week, the capital of southern Island province of Sulu, a known bailiwick of Abu Sayyaf gunmen.

    The military blamed Abu Sayyaf for Canizares death. The kidnappers initially demanded for a 2 million pesos (42,000 U.S. dollars) ransom. But Sulu Governor Sakur Tan refused to pay the ransom and urged the kidnappers to release the victims.

    The 380-strong Abu Sayyaf group, founded in the early 1990s by Islamic extremists, is notorious for kidnappings, bombings and even beheadings in the South over the past decade.

    The group was blacklisted by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization.