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Two journalists briefly kidnapped in Gaza
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-13 09:22
Palestinian gunmen briefly kidnapped an American and a British journalist on
Wednesday as the pair drove through the central Gaza town of Khan Younis.
Dion Nissenbaum, an American reporter for the Knight Ridder newspaper chain,
and British photographer Adam Pletts, who was working on contract for Knight
Ridder, were freed Wednesday night after several hours in captivity, Nissenbaum
said.
"They have been released by their captors to the Palestinian Authority and
are being transported back to Gaza City," Knight Ridder said in a statement.
"They are safe and unharmed."
Dion Nissenbaum, right, an American reporter
for the Knight Ridder newspaper chain, and British photographer Adam
Pletts, left, working on contract for Knight Ridder, speak with a
journalist following their release at the Palestinian police headquarters
in Gaza city, Wednesday Oct. 12, 2005. [AP] | The men were abducted by a renegade group of militants who had formerly
belonged to the ruling Fatah group, said Palestinian police chief Brig. Gen. Ala
Husni.
The kidnappers demanded that they be given jobs as officers in the
Palestinian security forces, Husni said. Palestinian officials refused to
negotiate and the journalists were eventually freed after one of the kidnappers
turned himself in for questioning, he said.
Militant groups have kidnapped foreigners in increasingly chaotic Gaza
recently, usually as bargaining chips to get relatives released from Palestinian
prisons or to secure jobs from the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinian security officials said the journalists were traveling down
Gaza's coastal road with a Palestinian translator when two cars filled with
gunmen drove up and stopped them. The armed men let the translator go, but
abducted the reporters and drove south in the direction of the Gaza town of
Rafah, police said.
Before the men were released, Knight Ridder said it was working to get them
freed. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli also said the United States was
working with senior officials from the Palestinian Authority to bring about
their release.
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