Three foreigners and a
Filipino woman were abducted by gunmen from a holiday resort on
Samal island in the southern Philippines on Monday night, local
police and military sources have said.
The Norwegian manager of the tourist port at Holiday
Oceanview Samal Resort, Kjartan Sekkingstad, Canadian nationals
John Ridsel and Robert Hall and the Filipino wife of one of the
Canadians were kidnapped.
The commando also reportedly tried to abduct a foreign
couple on board a yacht moored in the tourist port before
escaping by motorboat.
The authorities have not said who they think might be
behind the abduction.
However, they have set up a naval blockade around Samal to
prevent the kidnappers from reaching Basilan island to the
southwest, where the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf has a number of
bases.
In 2001 militants of Abu Sayyaf tried to abduct
holidaymakers at the Pearl Farm Beach Resort south of Oceanview.
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