Efforts being made to free BBC reporter: Abbas

Athens, Apr 22: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said today efforts were being made to secure the release of a BBC journalist abducted in Gaza as well as an Israeli soldier held by militants.

British reporter Alan Johnston has been missing since March 12 and Abbas has dismissed a claim from an Islamist group to have killed him.

''I have said he is alive and we are making efforts to get him released,'' Abbas said after meeting Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis.

Abbas also said Palestinian authorities were working to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held by militants for ten months. At the same time, he called on Israel to release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners.

Abbas repeated a call for the lifting of a year-old Western aid embargo on the Palestinian Authority. It was imposed to push the Hamas Islamist group, which heads the government, to recognise Israel and renounce violence.

Reuters