Anti-terrorism prosecutors in Rome said Thursday they had opened an investigation into the kidnapping of former Italian Catholic missionary priest Rolando Del Torchio in the southern Philippines.
Del Torchio was abducted late on Wednesday from his pizzeria and cafe on the Muslim-majority island of Mindanao.
At least six men, some armed with rifles, dragged Del Torchio from his restaurant into a van and then to two motor boats and fled under cover of darkness Wednesday from Dipolog city in Zamboanga del Norte province, local reports cited city police chief Ranie Hachuela as saying.
Security cameras caught images of some of the gunmen and that may help authorities identify them, Hachuela said.
Philippines airforce helicopters, navy patrol boats and army and police forces were deployed Thursday to search coastal areas and suspected hideouts, including in southern Sulu province, where Abu Sayyaf militants have held hostages for ransom in jungle camps .
Two Canadian tourists, a Norwegian and a Filipino woman were kidnapped last month from a marina on Samal Island in Davao del Norte province, also in the southern Philippines.
There has been no trace of the four.
