3-Gaza gunmen abduct foreign photographer

GAZA, Jan 1 (Reuters) Palestinian gunmen kidnapped a Peruvian photographer working for Agence France-Presse in the Gaza Strip today, the French news agency and Palestinian security sources said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction of Jaime Razuri.

Militants in Gaza have abducted foreigners in the past, usually to try to put pressure on the Palestinian government to give them jobs.

The photographer was seized while entering the agency's office in Gaza City.

In north Gaza, tensions between rival Palestinian factions flared as unknown assailants abducted 10 Hamas members, including several from a security force led by the group, and three from Fatah, including the brother of the senior commander of the faction's armed wing, security sources said.

The groups declared a truce in December to end weeks of deadly violence, which intensified after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, head of Fatah, called for new elections. The militant group Hamas won a parliamentary ballot a year ago.

In two separate incidents in October, gunmen in Gaza seized and held a Spanish aid worker and a photographer working for the Associated Press news agency for several hours.

In August, Gaza militants kept two journalists from the US Fox News channel captive for two weeks.

REUTERS LL VC2308