MANILA, May 31 (Reuters) - Four Westerners -- two men and two women -- and their driver were taken captive by unidentified armed men in the southern Philippines on Thursday, an army general said.

Major-General Raymundo Ferrer, army commander in the autonomous Muslim region on the southern island of Mindanao, said they received reports that armed men stopped the van near Midsayap town at about 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Thursday.

"They were tied up and forced onto motorcycles," Ferrer told Reuters. "We've sent troops to investigate and track down the armed group."

The nationalities of the victims were not immediately available.

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