MANILA - SUSPECTED Muslim militants kidnapped seven workers in a southern Philippine province where rebel attacks have continued despite a government crackdown, officials said on Tuesday.

The construction workers were returning to their office on a dump truck after hauling sand from a beach when they were stopped and led away by masked gunmen Monday near a farming village on Basilan island, marine Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Vincent Teodoro said.

No group has claimed responsibility. A police search was under way, regional police chief Bensali Jabarani said.

Navy Commodore Alex Pama said the workers may have been taken at gunpoint by Muslim militants fleeing marines on a counterinsurgency operation.

Marine forces launched sporadic offensives against hard-line members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the smaller but more violent Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group Monday in Basilan after the militants attacked at least three military outposts on the island province, navy spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo said.

Three pro-government militiamen were wounded in one of the rebel attacks in Basilan's Lamitan township, Col Arevalo said.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has expressed anger over a rise in kidnappings by Muslim militants in Basilan and nearby islands and ordered troops and police to step up a months-long crackdown.

Although it has long been crippled by US-backed military offensives, Abu Sayyaf continues to be a threat in predominantly Muslim Basilan, about 880km south of Manila. -- AP