Associated Press
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: The Hamas-led Palestinian government on Tuesday said it has identified the kidnappers of a BBC journalist and hopes to free him soon.
Palestinian security services in Gaza were on Wednesday checking information that could lead to the whereabouts of a BBC correspondent who was abducted two days ago, officials said.
Security services are continuing their search and investigation to find the journalist. We have certain information that needs to be verified, a security source told AFP.
The culprits have not yet been identified but efforts are continuing with the aim of freeing the journalist as soon as possible, the source said.
BBC television correspondent Alan Johnston was nabbed Monday from his car by four masked gunmen in Gaza City. The abduction was the latest in a string of kidnappings of foreign journalists in the Gaza Strip.
Government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said the kidnapping hurt the Palestinian cause.
The kidnappers have no nationalism, they want a cheap reward, he said. They are well-known, and we hope he (Johnston) will be found today. Hamad spoke at a protest in front of the BBC office, where 30 Palestinian reporters called for the journalist s quick release. The protesters held up signs, and some taped their mouths shut as they criticized the government for not immediately condemning the kidnapping.
Johnston, originally from Scotland, had been reporting from Gaza for the past three years. In a statement Tuesday, the BBC said it still had no confirmation of his whereabouts.
We are working closely with the Palestinian authorities and others to establish the facts surrounding the situation, the statement read. We are keeping Alan s family fully informed of developments.
Simon Wilson, the BBC Middle East bureau editor, traveled from Jerusalem to Gaza where he met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and other government members to discuss the kidnapping.
We hope to resolve this very quickly for the sake of BBC and the government, he told the government officials.
Following the meeting, Haniyeh expressed his serious condemnation of the kidnapping, saying he ordered security forces to search for the kidnappers.
