Philippines: Gunmen kidnap three foreigners hinh anh 1Illustrative image (Source: internet)

Unidentified gunmen have abducted two Canadian tourists, a Norwegian resort manager and a Filipino woman from a popular resort island in the southern Philippines, the local army confirmed on September 22.

According to Philippines army Captain Alberto Caber, the kidnapping took place on the night of September 21 in the Oceanview resort on Samal island. The group behind the attack remains unknown.

There were about 30 foreign tourists at the resort during the raid and evidence suggests the four were taken on purpose.

Caber said the abducted foreigners were identified as John Ridsdel and Robert Hall from Canada and Kjartan Sekkingstad as the Norwegian manager of the resort.

The case has provoked security concern in the south despite recent peace initiatives with Islamic rebels.

In 2014, the Philippines Government reached a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Muslim rebel group in the south, putting an end to a 45-year conflict that killed about 120,000 and displaced 2 million people.-VNA

VNA