ZAMBOANGA, Philippines -- Four Italian priests based in the southern Philippines have decided to stay despite threats that they would be kidnapped, a military official said Thursday.

The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) was warned that four members of the religious order working in Mindanao are being targeted for abduction, said Major General Nejemias Pajarito, the area's Army commander.

With their decision to stay, Pajarito said he has organized a security detail for them.

Italian PIME missionary, Giancarlo Bossi, was kidnapped and held for 40 days last year by a group with alleged close ties to the Abu Sayyaf, a militant Islamic group blamed for the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines.

Bossi was later freed unharmed. The Italian embassy and the Philippine government denied reports at the time that a ransom had been paid.

Pajarito did not say if the latest kidnapping threats came from the Abu Sayyaf.

The warning followed the killing of a Filipino Catholic priest and the abduction of a teacher in a raid by unknown gunmen on the remote island of Tabawan off Mindanao on Tuesday.

Police are searching for a former policeman who is among the suspects in the killing of the priest, said Marine Lieutenant General Nelson Allaga, regional military chief.