A Filipino-Chinese businessman and his 10-year-old daughter were kidnapped by gunmen in their house in Cotabato city in southern Philippines on Wednesday afternoon, the city mayor said.

The victims, Wilson Tan, in his 50s, and Jennifer Tan, 10, were snatched by armed men at gunpoint shortly after 17:00 local time ( 0900 GMT).

"We have cordoned all the exit points within the city," Cotabato Mayor Muslimin Sema told Xinhua over phone.

Colonel Dominggo Gobway, a local Army commander, said the security forces found a burnt vehicle, suspected of being used by the abductors to get away, in a nearby village.

He said security forces are in hot pursuit of the kidnappers, whose identities remain unknown.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2009)