Some 60 heavily armed extremists have taken hostage a Roman Catholic priest, a school principal, several teachers and about 100 students of a school in the southern Philippines, Philippine News Agency (PNA) said on March 21.

The news agency quoted a military report as saying that the kidnapping, which was carried out by the men believed to belong to the extremist group Abu Sayyaf, took place at a high school in the southern island province of Basilan Monday morning.

Some 30 students were released by the armed men Monday afternoon, but the fate of the other hostages remains unverified, the PNA said.

In all, a total of six pre-elementary teachers, seven high school teachers and two elementary school teachers were taken from the school along with the students, the PNA added.

Initial reports said the hostage taking came an hour after the rebels attacked an army detachment, about 200 meters from the school.

After about a 30 minute gunfight with the soldiers at the detachment, the rebels withdrew but passed by the school and took the hostages for use as shields in their withdrawal.

Local military spokesman Larry Atendido was quoted as saying that government troops and local policemen are tracking down the armed men along with their hostages.