(Photo : Lt. Anthony Waters/Wikimedia/CC) Sailors aboard three Armed Forces of the Philippines Special Operations Group rigid hull inflatable boats perform a maritime interdiction operation exercise in Manila Bay
A former Italian missionary was kidnapped by armed men in southern Phillippines, according to media reports. Rolando del Torchio was taken at gun point from his restaurant in Dipolog city in Southern part of the country, a region plagued by rebel factions and criminal gangs.
As many as 10 abductors forced del Torchio into a van parked outside his restaurant in Dipolog City, which was later found abandoned. The police said that the abductors are suspected to have loaded him into a motor boat to ferry him to towns further south in Zamboanga del Norte province.
The Philippine Navy and Air Force are leading massive search operations, and intelligence reports suggest the boat was headed to the island of Jolo, which is about 250 miles away from the other side of the coast from where he was kidnapped.
Army public affairs officer Lieutenant Colonel Audie Mongao said that the Abu Sayyaf group is likely to be behind this abduction. The Al-Qaeda linked group is notorious for kidnappings and terrorist activities, and has its base camp in Jolo.
"All kidnappings in the peninsula end up in Jolo. That's the pattern," Captain Roy Vincent Trinidad of Philippine Military told ABC News. "Hostages taken in the area are eventually turned over to the Abu Sayyaf."
Police chief Rannie Hachuela told Reuters that del Torchio had received threats of abduction before when he was a resident in the town of Sibuco, near Dipolog. He served as a missionary priest with Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions about two decades ago.
The army said that Abu Sayyaf has taken other foreigners hostage in the past few months including a Korean, two Malaysians, and a Dutch man.
A Norwegian national who was working as a resort manager was taken captive by armed men last month, along with a woman and two Canadian tourists from southern Philippines.
