Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants attacked a Vietnamese cargo ship on Friday, kidnapping the captain and five of its crew members near the southern Philippine island of Basilan.

Approximately 10 gunmen launched a dawn attack on the MV Royal 16, boarding the vessel and fleeing with their captives in speedboats, according to regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan. Their fate and current status remain unknown.

The ship was heading for Davao City but was stopped near the southern heartland of the Abu Sayyaf militant group, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group (ISIS). Vietnam is yet to comment on their kidnap.

It is the second kidnapping in the region in a week. On Monday, Abu Sayyaf said that it captured a German national and the Philippine military said it had found a murdered woman on an abandoned yacht believed to be his wife.

The group uses kidnap and ransom demands to fund its activities. It has kidnapped more than a dozen Indonesian and Malaysian sailors this year, boarding boats off the Philippine coast and seven remain in its possession, alongside a Dutch national, a German national and seven Filipinos.

It beheaded Canadian national John Ridsdel in April in the southern province of Sulu after a ransom deadline passed, and also beheaded his fellow countryman Robert Hall in June. Canada has a policy of not paying the ransom demands of extremists.

Abu Sayyaf, which is formed of a series of units operating under the Abu Sayyaf banner in the southern Philippines, was founded in 1991 by former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) insurgents.

Its members seek to create an Islamic state in the south of the country but are also heavily involved in illicit criminal activities. Filipino authorities are conducting a military operation against the group and the country's newly-elected President Rodrigo Duterte, who is tough on crime, has pledged to wipe out the group.</s>ZAMBOANGA CITY: Suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels hijacked a Vietnamese cargo ship and abducted six crew, including its captain, in a daring attack that left one sailor wounded near Basilan province on Friday.

The ship, MV Royal 16, was sailing off the province when 10 gunmen on a speedboat intercepted the vessel and abducted the crew off Sibago Island.

It was sailing less than 20 kilometers from Basilan island, a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) terrorists, when it was attacked.

A local cargo ship, MV Lorcon Iloilo, passing near Basilan rescued a wounded sailor who apparently had managed to escape and gave him first aid.

Identities of the hostages were not immediately known although reports claimed that they are Vietnamese sailors.

It was not also revealed what kind of cargo the ship was carrying when it was intercepted.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said they are waiting for details surrounding the attack.

The latest attack came hours after President Rodrigo Duterte arrived home from his visit to Malaysia where he met with Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Razak said the Philippines has allowed Malaysia to enter the country’s southern border in hot pursuit of Abu Sayyaf bandits and kidnap groups in the wake of a slew of ransom kidnappings in Sabah near the province of Tawi-Tawi.

The Philippine government also allowed Indonesia to do the same over a spate of Abu Sayyaf attacks on its tugboats in Sabah, Malaysia, and Tawi-Tawi province in Mindanao.

It has joint border patrol agreements with both Malaysia and Indonesia.

The recent abduction brings to at least eight the number of people snatched from sea vessels in the region over the past week, including an elderly German sailor, raising fears that authorities are unable to control the worsening piracy problem.

The Philippine Army’s regional spokesman, Filemon Tan, said sea and naval assets had been deployed to search and rescue the six foreign sailors.

In recent months, the Abu Sayyaf had been accused of kidnapping dozens of Indonesian and Malaysian sailors in waters off Mindanao.

An Abu Sayyaf commander over the weekend claimed responsibility for seizing a German sailor, 70, and killing his wife.

In what maritime experts described as a landmark incident, the captain of a South Korean cargo ship and a Filipino crew were abducted off their vessel, the first such attack on a large merchant vessel.

Abu Sayyaf bandits this year beheaded two Canadian hostages after demands for millions of dollars were not met.

Most of the Indonesian and Malaysian sailors were released after ransoms were reportedly paid.

This prompted Duterte to launch a military offensive to “destroy” the Abu Sayyaf.

Two more Indonesian sailors were abducted on November 5, however.

The Abu Sayyaf belongs to a loose network of terrorists formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, and has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings-for-ransom.

It is not the only threat with those near-lawless islands home to other armed groups and people whose families have been involved in piracy for generations, according to security analysts.</s>MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants attacked a Vietnamese cargo ship and kidnapped its captain and five crewmen off the southern Philippine island of Basilan early Friday, in the latest in a wave of sea assaults that have alarmed the region’s leaders.

About 10 gunmen boarded the MV Royal 16 at dawn off southern Basilan island, where the Abu Sayyaf is active, then fled with their captives in a speedboat, regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan said, citing crewmen from another ship, MV Lorcon Iloilo, who provided help to the Vietnamese ship after the attack.

Tan said ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf militants are suspected in the raid.

In Vietnam, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said the MV Royal 16 was on its way to Indonesia from Vietnam’s northern port city of Hai Phong with 19 crew members and a cargo of cement when it was attacked.

The ship sent an alert at 3:31 a.m. when it was about 18 kilometers (12 miles) southwest of Basilan, the newspaper said, adding that six crew members were kidnapped.

After the attack, the cargo ship anchored safely at Zamboanga port, near Basilan, with the remaining 13 crew members, including one who suffered gunshot wounds in the arm, the newspaper said.

A Vietnam Maritime Administration official confirmed the attack, but gave no details. The Vietnamese agency has asked regional and international anti-piracy agencies for help.

Friday’s attack happened a day after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak discussed ways to deal with the spike in piracy incidents.

Najib said at a news conference in Malaysia that Duterte had agreed to allow Malaysian security forces to enter Philippine waters while in “hot pursuit” of kidnappers.

“The ‘hot pursuit’ is a new development, this has been agreed to by President Duterte and President Jokowi and now with me,” Najib said, referring to Indonesian leader Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. “So the three countries will work to make it into a new standard operating procedure.”

“I appreciate him (Duterte) because it’s a very practical way of us helping each other because we really need to stamp out this kidnap for ransom because it is affecting the welfare, the security of not only the Sabahans but also foreigners who visit us in Sabah,” Najib said, referring to the Malaysian state on Borneo island near the southern Philippines.

After flying back to the Philippines, Duterte refused to provide details when asked about his discussion with Najib on the mounting number of attacks at sea.

Duterte has said the attacks embarrass him because the Abu Sayyaf perpetrators are based on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, an impoverished region where the militants hold their hostages for ransom.

During a recent visit to Indonesia, Duterte said he discussed possible security strategies with Widodo.

Despite talks by the three countries on ratcheting up security, Abu Sayyaf gunmen and allied militants — part of a wider Muslim rebellion that has been raging in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation for decades — have continued attacks at sea this year, kidnapping Malaysian and Indonesian crewmen of slow-moving tugboats that are mostly pulling coal barges.

The security talks are complicated because the Philippines and Malaysia have had territorial issues, and questions have arisen about how far Malaysian authorities chasing militants can go as they approach Philippine territory. In initial talks, the countries have considered establishing a more secure sea lane for commercial vessels as well as coordinated law enforcement actions, including sea and air patrols.

Indonesia has restricted coal shipments to the Philippines because of the danger.

Although most of their targets have been tugboats, which are easy to board, the militants attacked an ocean-going South Korean cargo ship for the first time about two weeks ago off southern Tawi Tawi province, near Sulu, abducting its South Korean skipper and a Filipino crewman.

AP video journalist Syawalludin Zain in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.</s>ZAMBOANGA, Philippines: Gunmen abducted at least five crewmen of a Vietnamese cargo vessel in southern Philippine waters Friday, authorities said, an area where Islamic militants are on a kidnapping-for-ransom spree.

The attack brings to at least eight the number of people abducted from vessels in the region over the past week, including an elderly German sailor, raising fears authorities are unable to control the worsening piracy problem.

The MV Royal 16 was sailing less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Basilan island, a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf militants, when it was attacked on Friday morning.

Two crewmembers, one of whom was wounded, escaped and were rescued by a local cargo ship in the area, authorities added.

“Sea and naval assets (were) already deployed to search and rescue the said kidnap victims,” said regional military spokesman Filemon Tan.

The nationalities of the five crewmen and the identity of the kidnappers were still unknown.

In recent months, the Abu Sayyaf has been accused of kidnapping dozens of Indonesian and Malaysian sailors in waters off the southern Philippines.

On the weekend an Abu Sayyaf commander claimed responsibility for abducting a 70-year-old German sailor and murdering his wife.

In what maritime experts described as a landmark incident, the captain of a South Korean cargo ship and a Filipino crewman were abducted off their vessel, the first such attack on large merchant vessel.

Abu Sayyaf militants this year beheaded two Canadian hostages after demands for millions of dollars were not met. Most of the Indonesian and Malaysian sailors were released after ransoms were reportedly paid.

However two more Indonesian sailors were abducted on November 5.

The Abu Sayyaf is a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, and has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings-for-ransom.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has launched a military offensive to “destroy” the Abu Sayyaf.

But the militants have defied more than a decade of US-backed similar offensives, surviving in their mountainous and jungle-clad southern island strongholds where they have support from local Muslim communities.

The Abu Sayyaf is not the only threat with those near-lawless islands home to other armed gangs and people whose families have been involved in piracy for generations, according to security analysts.

The Philippines has agreed to allow Malaysian and Indonesian maritime forces to pursue kidnappers into its waters to contain the threat, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday. AFP
Six Vietnamese sailors are kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf off the coast of the Philippines.