Philippine troops have fanned out on a southern island to search for gunmen who abducted three members of the International Committee on the Red Cross (ICRC), including an Italian and a Swiss national, officials said on Friday. The abduction, on the island of Jolo, took place on Thursday but there has been no sighting of or communication from the kidnappers, believed to be from the notorious Abu Sayyaf group of Islamic radicals, they said.
"We're not really sure whether the Abu Sayyaf was behind the kidnapping because no group has come forward to claim responsibility for the abduction," Marine Lieutenant-General Nelson Allaga, military commander in the Western Mindanao area, told reporters.
Allaga said authorities had received information a former guard at a provincial jail on Jolo, which the ICRC team visited earlier in the week, could have been involved in the abduction.
"We're still validating information a former jail guard was in cahoots with the gunmen that abducted the ICRC team," Allaga said, adding the suspect was also believed to have been involved in the escape of 12 inmates from the prison on Tuesday.