CNN producer seized by armed men in Gaza

8.00am

GAZA - Armed Palestinians seized an Israeli Arab producer for the CNN television network from a car in Gaza City on Monday after asking for him by name.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. A CNN correspondent who was in the vehicle with the producer, Riyad Ali, said the gunmen gave no clue why they were taking his colleague away.

"We were going up a main street and a white Peugeot drove in front of us. A young man got out of his car, pulled a gun out of trousers and said ... 'Which one of you is Riyad'," the correspondent, Ben Wedeman said in a CNN broadcast from Gaza.

"He said, 'I am Riyad,' and they said, 'Get out of the car'."

Such incidents involving journalists have been rare in Gaza and in the West Bank in the past four years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

"There were several men who got out of this car. Some of them had AK-47 assault rifles, others, pistols," Wedeman said.

"They made no attempt to conceal their faces. They took Riyad out of the car and drove him away. We're obviously burning up the phone lines, contacting anyone who might know anything about this. But at this point we have no information about Riyad's whereabouts."

Asked whether the abductors had given any clue why they were seizing Ali, who was identified by fellow journalists in Gaza as an Israeli Arab, Wedeman said: "These men were not very communicative. They just asked which one of you is Riyad, and that was it."

He said the gunmen looked like "your average Gazan of their age, which was somewhere in their early 20's".

In a statement, CNN said: "We are working actively for Riyad's safe return and are in touch with his family, offering them our full support during this difficult time.

"We have not yet heard from his abductors, but urge them to release Riyad immediately. He is a veteran journalist of the highest integrity."

- REUTERS