Annan calls for release of 7 kidnapped in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for the release of foreigners kidnapped by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after Israel raided a West Bank prison.

Palestinian gunmen kidnapped at least seven foreigners today, later releasing four, in response to Israeli forces storming a jail where a senior militant was being held. One gunman was killed in a confrontation with Palestinian police.

Annan called for "the immediate release of those who have been kidnapped, and full respect of the safety of international personnel on the ground," according to a statement issued by his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

More than two dozen foreign aid workers and journalists took refuge in the compound of the Palestinian Preventive Security agency in the Gaza Strip as gunmen angered by the Israeli raid scoured the territory for foreigners.

The militants were furious that US and British monitors left the jail before the raid. The UN Security Council scheduled consultations later on Tuesday on the prison raid at the request of Qatar, the council's sole Arab member.

Annan urged "an immediate end to the violence, respect for civilian lives, and urgent steps to restore calm," Dujarric said.

Two French nationals working for the private relief group Medecins du Monde and a South Korean were still being held.

Two Australians, an American and a Swiss employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross were also kidnapped but later released unharmed by their abductors.

A gunman was killed in a confrontation with Palestinian police outside Gaza's Dira hotel, where the two French nationals and the South Korean were seized, medics said.

Palestinian security sources and witnesses said the militants involved in the kidnappings belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Israeli forces blasted their way into a prison in the West Bank town of Jericho to try to seize PFLP leader Ahmed Saadat and five other militants from the group. After a daylong siege, the six surrendered.

The men, accused by Israel of involvement in the killing an Israeli cabinet minister in 2001, have been held under foreign supervision at the facility for the past four years.

- REUTERS