Gaza captors free UAE TV reporter, Hamas blamed

ABU DHABI, May 18 (Reuters) Palestinian gunmen abducted the bureau chief of the United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi TV in Gaza today but released him shortly afterwards, a colleague of the Palestinian reporter said.

The television station had blamed the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas for the abduction of Abdel-Salam Abu Askar, but a Hamas official in Gaza denied the charge.

An ''Executive Force jeep dropped Askar off in the street'', a colleague at the television's Gaza bureau who gave his name as Nael, told Reuters. The Executive Force is a Hamas militia.

Abu Askar and other officials at Abu Dhabi TV, part of the state-owned Emirates Media Inc, were not immediately available for comment.

''The Hamas movement abducted the Abu Dhabi television bureau chief in Gaza,'' an Abu Dhabi TV news anchor said earlier.

Nael said Abu Askar had called the office on his mobile telephone to report he had been stopped in his car at a checkpoint set up by the Hamas militia which has been battling Fatah rivals this week.

''He called from a checkpoint and said he was being detained by the Hamas Executive Force,'' he said, adding that contact with Abu Askar was then lost and witnesses reported seeing him being taken away in an Executive Force vehicle.

A spokesman for the group denied involvement. ''We have no knowledge of the abduction of the journalist. I have checked and he is not in our custody,'' said Hamas spokesman Islam Shahwan.

In a telephone interview with the television channel, Abu Askar's colleague in Gaza, Walid Abdul-Rahman, said he did not know the reason for the abduction. ''But it seems that Hamas wants to escalate the situation,'' he added.

The Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said it held Hamas, which leads the Palestinian government, responsible for the life of the journalist.

Fatah and Hamas forces have been locked in fighting for the past week.

Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal visited Abu Dhabi in 2006 and held talks with top officials in the Gulf Arab state.

The BBC's Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston disappeared on March 12 while driving in Gaza. Army of Islam, a little-known group, has claimed responsibility for abducting him.

Reuters SM VP02010