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JOLO, Sulu -- Government troops have launched a search for two television journalists who set out to interview Abu Sayyaf bandits and their hostages on this lawless island teeming with Moro rebels and kidnappers, officials said Tuesday.

Reporter Carlo Lorenzo and cameraman Gilbert Ordiales of GMA-7 traveled four days ago to the hilly outskirts of Indanan town to interview Abu Sayyaf bandits holding three Indonesian seamen as well as four women belonging to the Jehovah's Witnesses religious group.

The two journalists, both from Metro Manila, have not been heard from since Saturday.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, deputy commander of the Southern Command, said soldiers were searching for the missing men. The former commander of the Army's 104th Infantry Brigade based in Sulu, however, refused to provide details.

Sulu Gov. Yusop Jikiri also refused to confirm that Lorenzo and Ordiales had been abducted. Even so, Jikiri said he had mobilized his "assets" to find the newsmen.

The television network declined to comment publicly on the case. Other military field commanders also declared a news blackout.

"We are trying to verify the reports," an Armed Forces spokesperson based in Camp Aguinaldo said.

Supt. Arip Baanan, Sulu police chief, said that he had already submitted a spot report to Chief Supt. Acmad Omar, police director of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao that has jurisdiction over the province.

Baanan said followers of Nur Misuari, jailed leader of a breakaway faction of the Moro National Liberation Front, were behind the abduction of the two journalists.

"There are no Abu Sayyaf (bandits) in the area where the two were reportedly brought by a woman guide," the Sulu police chief said.

Baanan said Lorenzo and Ordiales were last seen in Barangay Kagay.

He said Lorenzo and Ordiales hired a certain Ammil Paradji to drive them to Indanan where they planned to interview three Indonesian tugboat crewmen kidnapped at sea off Sulu on June 17.

Paradji later told police that he and the two journalists were met by armed men. At one point, Paradji reportedly excused himself to check on his van and returned to discover the journalists and the armed men gone.

Sources said military officials had questioned a local identified as Hadja Jurma Leng Imran who allegedly helped the journalists arrange interviews with the Moro bandits.

Both Leng and Paradji have reportedly denied any role in the disappearance of the two journalists.

Jikiri said that Leng was helping in the negotiations for the release of the Indonesian hostages. Four Filipino women belonging to the Jehovah's Witnesses are also being held by bandits in Sulu.

The military has discouraged the media from venturing into the hinterlands of Sulu because of frequent clashes and the presence of many armed groups, including the Abu Sayyaf that has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network. By Julie S. Alipala, Joselle R. Badilla