Gaza group issues demands for abducted BBC reporter

GAZA, May 9 (Reuters) A little-known Islamist group claimed responsibility in an audio recording today for abducting the BBC's Gaza correspondent, issuing demands immediately rebuffed by the Palestinian government.

As evidence that it is holding correspondent Alan Johnston, the group posted a photo of his BBC identification card on the Internet.

The posting appeared to be the first tangible evidence that Johnston, who disappeared on March 12 while driving his car in the Gaza Strip, had been kidnapped.

Johnston has been held captive longer than any of the previous foreign journalists who have been seized, and subsequently released, by gunmen in Gaza.

''We demand that Britain free our prisoners, particularly the honourable Sheikh Abu Qatada al Filistini,'' said a speaker on the audio recording, posted on the Internet by a group that calls itself the ''Jaysh al Islam'', or Army of Islam.

The authenticity of the tape could not immediately be verified.

The BBC had no comment on the group's demands while describing the claim of responsibility as encouraging.

''We of course welcome any sign that Alan may be alive and well.

We profoundly hope that today's news may be a sign that Alan will soon be safely released,'' Mark Byford, the BBC's deputy director-general, said in a statement.

Abu Qatada, a radical Islamic cleric suspected of close links to al Qaeda, has been described by the British government as a ''significant international terrorist''.

He is one of more than a dozen om Britain has been holding under detention or house arrest as threats to national security, while acknowledging that it does not have sufficient evidence to put them on trial.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission in London ruled in February Abu Qatada could be deported to Jordan, where he has been convicted twice in absentia of involvement in terrorist plots, despite the likelihood he would face a flawed trial.

IDENTIFICATION CARD The recording was posted on an Islamist Web site often used by al Qaeda and other militant groups, and was accompanied by what appeared to be a picture of Johnston's BBC staff card.

The recording did not include any information about Johnston's condition.

''We have not forgotten our prisoners in other infidel countries, to whom we say: 'Free our prisoners or we will retaliate in the same manner without discriminating','' said the speaker in the recording.

The Army of Islam was one of three Palestinian groups, including Hamas's armed wing, that were involved in last June's seizure of an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid from Gaza.

Mohammed al-Madhoun, a political adviser to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, said the demands made in the audio recording were the same that the group presented privately to the Palestinian government.

''These demands are beyond the boundaries of the Palestinian area and I do not think they are doable,'' Madhoun said.

Madhoun said the British government had bee of the captors' demands but he did not expect Britain to meet them.

''Once again we are demanding that Johnston's captors release him immediately because every day that passes with him in captivity brings more harm to the Palestinian cause and to the image of our people,'' Madhoun said.

In London, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said: ''We are looking into this as urgency. In particular we are continuing to work extremely closely with the Palestine Authority in order to establish the facts and to try and secure Alan's safe release.'' Haniyeh said last week that his aides were seeking a possible meeting with people close to those involved in the suspected kidnapping.

Johnston, 44, is the only Westndent based full-time in Gaza, where a year-old economic embargo and fighting among militants have worsened living conditions for the 1.4 million people crammed into the territory.

REUTERS PJ PM2054