The military has said that two Canadians, a Norwegian and a local woman have been kidnapped from a tourist resort in the Southern Philippines.
An army spokesman who confirmed the incident, said that they were taken on Monday from the holiday ocean view resort on Samal Island, near Davao City on Mindanao.
He said it appeared that the four persons were targeted rather than taken at random.
The attackers, who had not been identified by police, reportedly fled by boat.
Philippine authorities had named the Canadian abductees as John Ridsel and Robert Hall while the Norwegian, Kjartan Sekkingstad, was said to be the manager of the resort.
Since the 1990s, the Southern Philippines had seen sporadic incidents of kidnapping by militant groups, who held hostages for ransom.
The Filipino woman has not been identified, but she is said to be the partner of one of the kidnapped Canadians.
Authorities also said that two Japanese tourists had tried to intervene to prevent the kidnapping, which took place shortly before midnight.
Philippine authorities signed a peace agreement with the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in 2014, but continue to battle smaller groups in the south.
The region where Samal is located has been largely peaceful in recent years. The last related incident on Samal took place in 2001 when Islamist separatist group, Abu Sayyaf, attempted to kidnap tourists at another resort.
The group is holding a number of foreign hostages in various remote camps.
