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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine police said Friday it has launched a search after gunmen reportedly abducted an American national, who was shot in the leg as he tried to resist before being spirited away from a southern Philippine coastal town by speedboat.
Police in Sibuco town in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte tried to pursue the suspected abductors and their victim, who they identified as Elliot Onil Eastman, 26, from Vermont, after the reported abduction on Thursday night.
"We confirm that there was a report of the alleged abduction of an American national,” the regional police said in a statement. “We want to assure the public, particularly the community of Sibuco, that we are doing everything in our power to secure the safe recovery of the victim.”
The police asked the public to immediately provide any information that could help an ongoing investigation of the reported abduction.
Two police reports seen by The Associated Press said that a resident of Sibuco, Abdulmali Hamsiran Jala, reported to police that four men in black clothing who were armed with M16 rifles and introduced themselves as police officers forcibly took Eastman, who tried to escape.
One of the gunmen shot Eastman in the leg before dragging him into a speedboat then fled by sea further south toward the provinces of Basilan or Sulu, the police reports said.
Policemen chased but failed to find the gunmen and Eastman and alerted other police and Philippine marine units in the region, according to the reports.
Philippine authorities did not immediately provide background details of Eastman, but a person with a similar name has posted pictures and videos of himself on Facebook saying he had married a Muslim woman in Sibuco.
The U.S. Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to questions about the reported abduction.
Muslim armed bands led by the notoriously violent Abu Sayyaf carried out an frequent kidnappings for ransom more than two decades ago in the south, home of a Muslim minority in the largely Roman Catholic nation.
They targeted American and other Western tourists and religious missionaries, most of whom were ransomed off. A few were killed, including an American who was beheaded on the island province of Basilan and another who was killed while army forces were trying to rescue him and his wife.
Relentless military and police offensives, however, have considerably weakened the Abu Sayyaf, which is considered as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the Philippines and similar armed groups and kidnappings for ransom eventually waned.
The Philippines is to hold mid-term elections next year for more than 18,000 local and national posts. In the traditionally volitile south, crimes including kidnappings have traditionally spiked as rogue politicians try to raise funds to fuel their campaigns, according to authorities.