MikeLigalig.com

by Associated Press

An Australian man was abducted in the southern Philippines on Monday, the military said, in what could be the latest in a long line of kidnappings for ransom by Muslim militants.

Several armed men abducted Warren Rodwell from his home in the seaside town of Ipil on Mindanao island, then fled on speed boats, according to regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang.

Cabangbang told AFP no one had claimed responsibility for the abduction.

But kidnappings for ransom, often targeting foreigners, occur frequently in parts of the southern Philippines, where a Muslim separatist rebellion has endured for more than 40 years.

The Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf is the most infamous of many Muslim militant groups known to carry out such kidnappings in the south.

The Abu Sayyaf, which is believed to have only a few hundred armed followers, was blamed for the abduction of a Filipina woman also in Ipil town in September.

The military rescued her two weeks later on the Abu Sayyaf's stronghold of Basilan island, about three to five hours away by speed boat, during a gunfight in which one soldier died.

Cabangbang said the military was not yet able to determine if the Abu Sayyaf was also behind Monday's kidnapping.

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