CORRECTED-(OFFICIAL)-Gunmen abduct three foreign tourists from southern Philippines resort

(Corrects name in seventh paragraph to 'Ridsdel', not 'Ridsel',
after army issues clarification)
MANILA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Two Canadian tourists, a
Norwegian resort manager and a Filipino woman were kidnapped by
unidentified gunmen from a popular resort island in the southern
Philippines, the army said on Tuesday.
Philippines army Captain Alberto Caber said the four were
taken at gunpoint during a raid late on Monday night on the
Oceanview resort on Samal island, near Davao City, the largest
city on Mindanao island in the restive southern Philippines.
Military and police officials were surprised by the latest
attack, which came as a reminder of volatile security in the
south despite recent peace initiatives with Islamist rebels.
The Davao region has been relatively peaceful for more than
a decade. In 2014, a peace agreement with the largest Muslim
rebel group in the south ended 45 years of conflict that had
killed about 120,000 people and displaced 2 million.
"Four people were taken but we do not know what group was
behind the attack," Caber told reporters. He said there were
about 30 foreign tourists at the resort at the time of the raid.
"It appeared the foreigners were the targets, they were not
taken at random," he said.
Caber said the abducted foreigners were identified as John
Ridsdel and Robert Hall from Canada and Kjartan Sekkingstad, the
Norwegian manager of the resort. The Filipino woman was not
identified.
Military sources said the gunmen spoke English and Tagalog,
the language spoken widely in the Philippines.
"Two Japanese tourists tried to intervene but failed," one
of the sources said. The gunmen fled towards the Mindanao
mainland with their captives, the source said.
Three navy ships were sent to search and intercept the
gunmen's boat, while ground units were also alerted to locate
possible landing sites in southeastern Mindanao, an army
commander said.
In 2001, al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Islamist militants tried
but failed to kidnap foreign tourists on Samal island's Pearl
Farm resort. Three security men died fighting the attackers.