Armed gunmen kidnap three Indonesians off Malaysian state of Sabah

Armed gunmen kidnapped three Indonesian tugboat crew off Malaysia’s eastern state of Sabah, police said on Sunday, the latest in a string of abductions in a region noted for kidnappings by Islamist militants.

It was not immediately clear whether the men were seized by Abu Sayyaf, a group linked to Islamic State that is responsible for recent beheadings of Western hostages and notorious for the extortion of millions of dollars in ransoms.

Just last month, seven Indonesian sailors were taken hostage in waters of the southern Philippines in a suspected Abu Sayyaf kidnapping.

The tugboat, with a crew of seven, was in waters off the east coast of Sabah on Borneo island, about 8 nautical miles from shore, regional marine police said, when it was attacked by armed men in a white boat late on Saturday.

“The suspects inquired who had their passports with them, and the three who did were taken into their boat, while the four who did not were left behind,” marine police said in a media statement.