Manila - A 24-year-old Filipino-Chinese businesswoman was abducted in the southern Philippines by suspected members of a notorious kidnap-for-ransom syndicate, officials said Thursday.

The victim, identified as Mafen Wo, was forcibly taken by armed men on Wednesday evening in Kabacan town in North Cotabato province, 930 kilometres south of Manila.

Town police commander Chief Inspector Franklin Anito said Wo was walking with a friend along a busy avenue in downtown Kabacan when the suspects seized her.

Anito said the victim has a clothing business in the town.

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce, an army spokesman, said troops have been dispatched to hunt down the kidnappers who were believed to be members of the Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang.

Ponce said troops recovered the vehicle used in the kidnapping in a nearby town two hours after the abduction.

"They are being pursued by our troops," he said. "They are now fleeing on foot."

The Pentagon gang has been behind numerous kidnappings of foreigners and wealthy traders in the southern Philippines. Its victims included an Italian priest and five Chinese engineers in 2001.

The priest was freed unharmed after six months in captivity, while four of the Chinese engineers were killed in crossfire during a military rescue operation.(dpa)