MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According The Star daily, citing the Philippines military source, about eight armed men boarded a tugboat operated by the Malaysian crew on Friday evening.
The two kidnappers claimed to be members of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group, the military said.
Last week, Islamic militants seized an Indonesian ship with 10 crew members aboard in the Philippines waters, demanding $1.07 million in ransom.
Abu Sayyaf, a militant Islamist group based in the southwestern part of the Philippines, is notorious for carrying out kidnappings for ransom, often targeting foreigners and sometimes beheading captives if ransom is not paid. The militants aim to establish an independent Islamic state in the region.
The group was responsible for the Philippines' worst terrorist attack, the bombing of Superferry 14 in 2004, which killed 116 people, including over a dozen of children.
