COTABATO, Philippines, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Armed men kidnapped a Korean Wednesday afternoon in the restive southern Philippines, the police said on Thursday.

    The 24-year-old victim, Maxine Wo, was abducted at gunpoint by two men when she was on her way home in the township of Kabacan, North Cotabato province, around 4:45 p.m. local time (0845 GMT), Superintendent Jose Kalimutan, chief of intelligence and investigation of police in the province, told reporters.

    Kalimutan said the victim is a sister-in-law of an Achan Wo, a businessman who owns an ATCHAN Enterprises in Kabacan. The authorities are yet to identify Maxine Wo's nationality.

    The police official said the getaway vehicle of the kidnappers,a white Mitzubishi Lancer, has been recovered in a nearby village.

    "Based on the accounts of the witnesses, the abductors transferred to a small water craft and they escaped in the marshy areas of Maguindanao (province)," Kalimutan said.

    No group has claimed responsibility for the incident but the military blamed members of a kidnap-for-ransom gang named "Pentagon."

    Colonel Dominggo Gobway, commander of the Philippine Army's 7thInfantry Battalion in charge of the pursuit operation, told Xinhua by phone that the kidnappers took their captive to a neighboring Pagalungan township in Maguindanao.

    "We are not certain if they will release the victim today," Gobway said.

    The "Pentagon," blamed for at least 50 kidnapping cases in Mindanao, first gained notoriety on October 17, 2001, when it abducted Italian priest Guissepe Pierrantoni on his mission in Dimatali town, Zamboanga del Sur province.

    Pierrantoni was released on April 8, 2002 after six months in captivity.

    The group also kidnapped five Chinese engineers and a Filipino guide in May 2001. Four of the Chinese engineers were killed in the crossfire during a military rescue operation in June 2001.