Gunmen impersonating police officers kidnap Salug mayor

Manila: Ten armed men who wore T-shirts identifying them as policemen, abducted the mayor of Salug town in Zamboanga del Norte, at gun point in southern Philippines, a radio report said.

Jeffrey Lim, 36, mayor of Salug town was nabbed by abductors near the town's bus terminal on Monday evening, a radio report which quoted police, said yesterday.

He was taken into a van which sped towards Mukas village, said the report, adding that authorities later found the abandoned getaway van later on Monday. Lim's family has not yet received a ransom demand from the kidnappers, said the report. Lim is the son of Jesus Lim, former mayor of Salug town.

The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), which has links with Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida terror network, operates in Zamboana del Norte.

The ASG has been blamed for kidnap-for-ransom, beheadings, bombings and other terror activities in the south since the '90s. It has claimed responsibility for the bombing that sank a ferry and killed 100 people off Manila Bay in 2004.

It was the first recorded ASG-related incident in Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, director Felicisimo Khu, a regional police commander, said the police and the military have launched operations to search for the gunmen and rescue the mayor, according to a DPA report.

Khu said police found a vehicle used by the gunmen to flee the area with the mayor.

"The vehicle was already burned with no passengers onboard," he added.