Gunmen have abducted a Norwegian resort manager, two Canadians and a Filipino woman from a southern Philippine island.
Two Japanese guests unsuccessfully tried to intervene before the gunmen escaped with their hostages aboard a motorised outrigger from Samal Island off Davao City, said regional military spokesman Captain Alberto Caber.
He said the gunmen appeared to have specifically targeted the victims when they entered the Holiday Oceanview Samal Resort before midnight on the northern tip of the island, about 610 miles south east of Manila.
The kidnap victims are Kjartan Sekkingstad, the resort's marina manager, and Canadians John Ridsel and Robert Hall. The Filipino woman is the wife of one of the Canadians.
Police chief Senior Superintendent Samuel Gandingan said the three gunmen were armed with rifles.
Abu Sayyaf, which has about 400 gunmen, was recently declared a terrorist group by a Philippine court and is on Washington's lists of terror organisations.
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