An Irish missionary has been kidnapped in the Philippines, three months after a Red Cross aid worker was released by Islamist militants.

Michael Sinnott, 78, was taking an evening stroll in his convent's garden in Pagadian city, in the southern Philippines, when six gunmen stormed into the property and dragged the priest into a van in front of his horrified aides, according to Chief Superintendent Angelo Sunglao, police commander of Zamboanga del Sur province.

The kidnappers took the priest down to the shore where fishermen told police they saw him being bundled onto a motorboat seen heading in the direction of a town called Tukaran, Mr Sunglao said. The van was later found abandoned and burned near the convent.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping but immediate suspicion fell on the Abu Sayyaf group of al-Queda linked militants who use kidnappings to help finance their battle for a separatist Moslem homeland in the southern Philippines.

Both Abu Sayyaf and the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MLF) have a strong presence in the Zamboanga peninsular. MILF, which has been engaged in peace talks with the government, has denied any involement in kidnappings for ransom or any alliance with the more violent Abu Sayyaf.

Mr Sinnott's group, the Missionary Society of St Columban, appealed for prayers for his safe recovery.

Mr Sinnott, a Philippines missionary of over 50 years who has been involved in a school for handicapped children since 1998, is the latest of a number of priests who have been kidnapped in the region in recent years.

In June 2007 an Italian priest, Giancarlo Bossi, was kidnapped, allegedly by MILF and the Abu Sayyaf, in nearby Zamboanga Sibugay province. He was freed after 39 days. The government denied claims that a ransom was paid for his release.

Three months ago Eugenio Vagni, an Italian Red Cross worker, was freed after being held for six months by Abu Sayyaf. The Red Cross said that it had not paid a ransom, but it emerged that he was freed after the Vice-governor of Sulu province gave $1,042 (£660) to the militants "for cigarettes'". He also released from prison two wives of the Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad.

Abu Sayyaf has around 400 fighters, and is believed to received funds and training from al-Qaeda and the militant Jemaah Islamiyah network that was behind the Bali bombs in 2002 which claimed the lives of 202 people from 22 countries.

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