Leftist rebels kidnap soldier in Agusan

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - Leftist rebels have kidnapped a government soldier in the southern Philippines, the military said today.

Corporal Salman Abbas was caught by New People's Army guerrillas conducting a checkpoint along a village road in Mahayahay village, San Luis town, in Mindanao's Agusan del Sur province around 11 a.m. on Tuesday, said Lieutenant Colonel Leo Bongosia, spokesperson of the army's 4th Infantry Division.

The latest kidnapping came just over a week after leftist guerrillas freed five government troops they have held captive in the southern Mindanao city of Davao for some 34 days.

"The unarmed soldier was riding on his motorcycle on his way to the town proper when stopped and seized by the NPA gunmen disguising as soldiers," Bongosia said.

"We learned that the NPA conducted the roadblock to hold personnel of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources who were supposed to bring government services to Binicalan, a village some 55 kilometers from the town center. The soldier's abduction could be just incidental," Bongosia said.

He said the guerrillas also briefly held local health workers who were on their way to Binicalan to supposedly distribute health cards and enroll more villagers to the government's anti-poverty cash transfer program.

"The health workers were ordered to turn back. This clearly shows the NPA do not want development and progress to reach far- flung areas in the countryside such as Binicalan," added Bongosia.

The military official said operations were now underway to locate and rescue the soldier.