Captors believed Wiig's colleague was CIA spy

New Zealand cameraman Olaf Wiig has revealed his captors took him hostage because he was with an American who they believed was a CIA spy.

Mr Wiig, 36, and American journalist Steve Centanni were released on Sunday, two weeks after they were kidnapped by masked gunmen near the headquarters of the Palestinian security forces in Gaza City.

Speaking to Fox News in New York, Mr Wiig said his captors told him: "Unfortunately for you, you were with an American." The group said Mr Centanni, 60, was "a dangerous American and we're going to kill him".

"They believed he [Centanni] was CIA, FBI, an informer for the IDF [Israel Defence Forces], that he was there as a spy, an American soldier in Iraq," said Mr Wiig.

He told his captors that Mr Centanni was "just a journalist" and "a friend of the Palestinian people".

Mr Centanni said he and Mr Wiig, who were both working for Fox, were pulled out of their car and were taken at gunpoint to another vehicle where they were blindfolded and had their hands bound with plastic ties.

They were driven to a building which they later found out was a garage.

A group calling themselves the Holy Jihad Brigade later claimed responsibility for the abduction and called for the release of all Muslim prisoners in the United States.

Neither man knew of the negotiations being made on their behalf to secure their release, said Mr Centanni.

He said the pair had no "clues or solid evidence" but had "hopes" people knew of their kidnapping and were trying to get them out.