MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Police say militants have kidnapped two traders in the southern Philippines where they are already holding two Americans and at least four other people for ransom.
Police commander Felicisimo Khu said the victims were snatched at gunpoint as they were returning homes on a motorcycle Sunday after selling clothes in a marine camp on Jolo Island.
The latest abduction near Patikul town is in the same area where the militants killed seven marines in a July 28 clash that prompted President Benigno Aquino III to order a new crackdown on the notorious terrorist group.
The al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf has been holding two Americans of Filipino descent since July, in addition to a Filipino midwife, an Indian, a Malaysian truck driver and a Japanese convert to Islam.
