A former militant once connected with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is believed to behind the abduction of an Italian priest in southern Zamboanga del Sur province.

Sources at the military Southern Command (Southcom) said a former militant chief, known as Commander Ramsey, has demanded an unspecified ransom from the church where Catholic Priest Giuseppe Piarantoni is serving and from traders in Dimataling town, where he was seized on Wednesday night.

"The militants were demanding an unspecified ransom from traders and to the church where the priest is serving," the official, who refused to be named said. The military is trying to determine if the Wednesday evening abduction of Piarantoni is connected with the apprehension by soldiers of another former militant commander Akiddin Abdusalam earlier in the day.

Abdusalam was captured along with his two companions at a checkpoint in the remote village of Tiganuang in Zamboanga del Sur. Earlier, Southcom chief Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu described Abdusalam as mastermind in the kidnapping of the priest, but Piarantoni was seized later in the day. The military corrected the reports yesterday afternoon and said Abdusalam's followers were behind the priest's abduction.

The military said Abdusalam, regional chief of the MILF with the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), was behind the spate of kidnappings in western Mindanao and has been linked to the abduction of Italian missionary Father Luciano Benedetti in Zamboanga del Sur province in 1998.

Benedetti, a member of the Pontifical Instituto for Foreign Missions (PIME), was freed reportedly after Libya, which negotiated for the priest's release, paid millions of pesos in ransom to the militants. Abdusalam's group was also allegedly behind the series of piracy and highway robbery in the region and is in the military and police list of wanted criminals.

An MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu, yesterday denied the militant group was involved in the abduction. "We deny responsibility for the the priest's abduction. The MILF has nothing to do with this incident," Kabalu said. Kabalu said Abdusalam is a member of the MILF's lost command, a rogue group of former militants which resorted to kidnapping and banditry.

The Southcom has mounted a massive operation to rescue the Italian priest hours after he was kidnapped. Cimatu said units from three Army divisions based in Mindanao were mobilised to track down and rescue Piar-antoni.

"I created the Task Force "Gusep" that will be in-charge of the rescue operation and has alerted the 1st, the 4th and 6th Infantry Divisions of the Army to be in the look out for possible landings of the kidnappers in their areas."

The 1st Division covers the provinces of Sulu, Basilan, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibuguey in western Mindanao and the 4th Division - Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte in northern Mindanao. And the 6th Infantry Division, which covers the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato.

"There are pursuit operations going on and we will recover the priest safely," said Cimatu. Another militant group, the Islamic extremist Abu Sayyaf, is also being linked to the abduction of Piarantoni - the group is still holding an American missionary couple and eight Filipinos in Basilan island, about 15km south of here.