Published: 03/12/07, 6:53 PM

BBC Reporter Kidnapped by PA Terrorists in Gaza

by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) A reporter with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was kidnapped Monday by masked gunmen as violence returned to Gaza.

According to a senior Palestinian Authority security official, four terrorists dragged reporter Alan Johnston from his vehicle and forced him into a white car which then drove off. Jerusalem Bureau Chief Simon Wilson confirmed that the network had lost contact with the reporter, but would not say whether he had been kidnapped.

A car that was discovered abandoned near Johnston’s Gaza City apartment was identified as belonging to the Scottish national, who apparently tossed a business card onto the seat as he was pulled out of the car. A leasing contract further identified the car as having been rented to the BBC.

PA security personnel set up checkpoints on roads leading out of the city, as a spokesman for PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s Hamas terrorist organization condemned the abduction. “We call on these criminal groups to stop this destruction of our reputation and to let this journalist go free,” he told the Associated Press. There was no immediate comment from PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction.