The Philippine police said Friday it has launched a search after gunmen reportedly abducted an American national, who was shot in the leg as he tried to resist before being spirited away from a southern Philippine coastal town by speedboat. Police in Sibuco town in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte tried to pursue the suspected abductors and their victim, who they identified as Elliot Onil Eastman, 26, from Vermont, after the reported abduction on Thursday night. “We confirm that there was a report of the alleged abduction of an American national,” the regional police said in a statement. The southern Philippines has bountiful resources but has long been hamstrung by stark poverty and an array of insurgents and outlaws. They targeted American and other Western tourists and religious missionaries, most of whom were freed after ransoms were paid.

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Persons: Elliot Onil Eastman, Hamsiran Jala, Eastman, Abu, Abu Sayyaf, ransoms Organizations: Philippine, Catholic, Police, American, Associated Press, Eastman, Facebook, Embassy Locations: American, Philippine, Philippines, Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte, Vermont, Basilan, Sulu, Sibuco ., U.S, Manila, Moro Islamic, Abu Sayyaf, United States, beheadings, Sirawai