ZAMBOANGA CITY ? An abducted Irish missionary was sighted in an area in Lanao around 11 a.m. Monday, a military official said Tuesday.

Major General Benjamin Dolorfino, chief of the Western Mindanao Command based here, would not say however if it was Lanao del Norte or Lanao del Sur.

Dolorfino said all he could say for now was that the area where Father Michael Sinnott and his captors had been sighted has been sealed off.

He also said the military established that Sinnott's kidnappers were not Abu Sayyaf bandits.

A large kidnap-for-ransom group was behind his abduction and not the ASG, Dolorfino said.