ZAMBOANGA CITY, 19 October 2006 — A USAID worker and his companions were kidnapped yesterday in the restive southern island of Jolo, where troops are pursuing members of theA-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, military officials said yesterday.

Col. Reynaldo Sealana, commander of army forces on the island, said the four were returning to their base in Jolo town when six of their native bodyguards led by a man identified only as Salih seized them near the village of Biid in Parang town.

Sealana identified the engineer as Romeo Rivera, program manager of the US Agency for International Development’s Growth with Equity in Mindanao (USAID-GEM); engineers Reynaldo Rubio and Larry Bautista of the Manila-based Terra Zyme Chemicals; and their driver, Isidro Amaramo.

“We have sealed off exits points in Parang town and established road blocks and checkpoints to prevent the escape of the kidnappers,” Sealana told Arab News by phone from Jolo. “We still don’t know the motive of the kidnappings, whether it was for ransom or work-related.”

He said Rivera’s group was working on a road construction funded by the USAID in Parang town, while Rubio and Bautista, who arrived on Tuesday from Manila were inspecting the project.

Benjamin Loong, the governor of Sulu province which covers Jolo island, expressed concern that the abduction might derail the road project that started nine months ago.

“It’s really very unfortunate to have this kind of incident in our place,” he said.

Maj. Gen. Cedo, chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, said he has ordered troops to track down the kidnappers and rescue the victims. “There is a pursuit operation and we are closely coordinating with government officials on the island,” he said in Zamboanga City.

It was not immediately known whether the bodyguards had links with the Abu Sayyaf or not. The group is active on the island and has kidnapped many Filipino and foreigners in the past in exchange for money.

Some of their victims who failed to pay ransom were beheaded.

The military has been conducting a massive offensive against the Abu Sayyaf and top Jemaah Islamiyah militants Dulmatin and Omar Patek — wanted for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people — in Jolo since August.

Earlier in the month, authorities arrested Dulmatin’s Indonesian wife in Jolo for alleged immigration laws violations. The couple’s two children were also take into custody.