Two Journalists Kidnapped In Gaza

Palestinian gunmen released an American and British journalist they had kidnapped earlier Wednesday as the pair drove through the central Gaza town of Khan Younis, according to one of the abducted journalists.

The two men, Dion Nissenbaum, an American reporter for the Knight Ridder newspaper chain, and British photographer Adam Pletts, who was working on contract for Knight Ridder, were freed Wednesday night after several hours in captivity, Nissenbaum said as they drove toward Gaza City.

Palestinian security officials said the men had been kidnapped by a renegade group of members of the ruling Fatah party. Fatah officials and Palestinian security officers negotiated their release, security officials said.

Militant groups have kidnapped foreigners in increasingly chaotic Gaza recently, usually as bargaining chips to get relatives released from Palestinian prisons or to secure jobs from the Palestinian Authority.

According to Palestinian security officials, the journalists were traveling down Gaza's coastal road with a Palestinian translator when two cars filled with gunmen drove up and stopped them. The armed men let the translator go, but abducted the reporters and drove south in the direction of the Gaza town of Rafah, police said.

Before the men were released, Knight Ridder said it was working to get them free and U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the United States was working with senior officials from the Palestinian Authority to bring about their release.

Ereli said the Palestinian Authority was "on the case. They have a handle on it, and believe they have leads that will be productive."