2 workers abducted in Sulu - military

Two workers were abducted in Maimbung town in the southern Philippine province of Sulu last Monday, a military official said. In a text message sent late Tuesday night, Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero, head of the Armed Forces’ Task Force Comet, confirmed that about six armed men took the workers driving a dump truck for a road project funded by the United States military. "The two were taken while traveling in their truck away from the road work site. Pursuit and possible rescue operations were launched since yesterday [Tuesday]," Guerrero said. He added that the kidnappers were suspected to be "extortionists or lawless groups" harassing a development project firm working in remote areas in the province. Sulu is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf bandits, who are perceived to have links to international terrorist group al-Qaeda. Other armed groups also proliferate in the area, including members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and those being maintained by local politicians. One of the recent high-profile abduction incident in the province was in January 2009, when a splinter unit of the Abu Sayyaf group held three International Committee of the Red Cross workers, namely, Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, Swiss Andreas Notter, and Italian Eugenio Vagni, who were inspecting a sanitation project in Indanan town. Lacaba and Notter were freed in April that year, while Vagni was freed in July. - with Sophia Dedace/RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV