Police and soldiers on Monday launched a manhunt for suspected Islamic militants who kidnapped a well-loved, 78-year-old Irish priest in the southern Philippines.

Six gunmen snatched Michael Sinnott while he was doing his early evening exercise routine on Sunday at his home near Pagadian city in Zamboanga del Sur province, authorities said.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the abduction, police and military said they suspect that either the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group or the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were involved.

Sinnott was forcibly dragged away at gunpoint and transferred to a waiting van, which was subsequently found abandoned and torched near a coastal area, police said.

One witness said he was then beaten up and transferred to a small motorised boat, which sped away towards open seas in the direction of a MILF stronghold in Lanao del Norte province.

"We are not discounting the involvement of the Abu Sayyaf and other groups, including the MILF," city police head Chief Inspector Michael Palermo told AFP.

"A combined police and military operation has been launched," he said.

One witness, Marieta Burok (53) said she saw the priest being led to a motorised boat wearing only jogging pants.

"His front and back were bloodied. He was dragged to a waiting pump boat," Burok said.

The Irish embassy in Manila was not immediately available for comment.

Pagadian Archbishop Emmanuel Cabajar urged Sinnott's captors to free the priest, whose health he said has been fragile after he had heart bypass surgery in 2008.

"I am concerned about his safety. I am calling on his captors to free him. Please do not hurt him," Cabajar said, adding that the Irish cleric was well-loved by the community he has served for decades.

Described as "jolly" with a grasp of the local dialect, Sinnott founded a local charity called Hangop Kabataan Foundation, which helps provide medical care to children with disabilities.

He has no known enemies and is said to be popular among the locals, who contribute generously to his fundraising activities, police said.

"I am saddened because he has done so much for the people of Pagadian," Cabajar said.

Sinnott's abduction comes nine months after the Abu Sayyaf snatched three Red Cross workers on the island of Jolo. Swiss national Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba were freed one after the other in a hostage crisis that stretched on for six months.

The military has also blamed the group for the abduction of Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, also near Pagadian, in 2007. He was held for more than a month before being freed, allegedly after the payment of ransom.

In 2001 and 1998, the same group kidnapped priests Giuseppe Pierantoni and Luciano Benedetti. They were freed after alleged payment of ransoms, the military said, although this was denied by the victims.

Three Americans were also seized along with a group of Filipino tourists from an island resort in 2001, one of whom was beheaded while another was killed in a military rescue.

The military on Monday said the gunmen who took Sinnott sped in the direction of Karomatan, a known stronghold of the MILF, which has been waging a separatist rebellion since 1978. Peace talks with the group have been on hold since last year.

AFP

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