Abducted BBC journalist freed in Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Kidnapped British reporter Alan Johnston has been released after nearly four months in captivity, Hamas said Wednesday. Looking pale and frail, the BBC correspondent told The Associated Press he was "OK."
Television footage showed Johnston emerging from a building in Gaza surrounded by a throng of armed Palestinian men and escorted into a waiting car while cameras flashed around him.
Shortly after word of his release, the Islamic militant group said he was in the custody of its military wing and meeting with deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.
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The release was announced by the Islamic militant group's TV and confirmed in a text message from Hamas to The Associated Press.
The report did not explain how the reporter was freed or provide any other details.
Hamas had demanded Johnston’s freedom since it violently seized control of Gaza last month, apparently in a bid to curry favor with the West.
On Tuesday, Hamas gunmen took positions around the stronghold of the shadowy group holding Johnston, stepping up the pressure to secure his release.
Johnston was kidnapped from a Gaza City street on March 12, spending far more time in captivity than any Western journalist abducted in Gaza. Hamas had said it knew where to find him but had not raided the hideout for fear he would come to harm.
Members of Hamas' 6,000-strong militia moved onto rooftops of high-rise buildings on Tuesday and deployed gunmen in streets in the Gaza City neighborhood inhabited by the Doghmush clan. The large, heavily armed family leads the Army of Islam, a little-known group that has been holding Johnston.
"The clocks have begun ticking toward the release of Alan Johnston," said Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad. "The operation of the interior ministry Executive Forces has started, and they are tightening the siege on the people involved in his kidnap."
Release of 9 students keyed to Johnson situation
Late Tuesday, the Doghmush clan released nine students loyal to Hamas that they kidnapped earlier in the week. Hamas officials and mediators said the release was meant to pave the way for Johnston's release.
Then four of Army of Islam members were freed by Hamas, said Abu Mujahid from the Popular Resistance Committees, the militant group handling the negotiations.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused Johnston's captors of smearing the Palestinian people's reputation and of seeking "to prove to the world that we are a group of militias that fight each other to gain personal ends."
The Army of Islam, whose formerly close relations with Hamas have soured, had demanded that Britain first release a radical Islamic cleric with ties to al-Qaida. It also had threatened to kill Johnston if Hamas tried to free him by force.
Army of Islam spokesman arrested
On Monday, Hamas arrested the spokesman of the Army of Islam, giving it a potentially valuable bargaining chip in its efforts to release Johnston.
Last week, the Army of Islam posted a video message from Johnston on a militant Web site in which he appeared to be wearing an explosives belt that he said his captors would detonate if there were an attempt to free him.
The same group was involved in the capture of Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was seized more than a year ago in a raid on an Israeli army post near Gaza.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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