FOX News Reporter Steve Centanni Kidnapped in Gaza
GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian gunmen kidnapped two foreign journalists working for the Fox News Channel in Gaza on Monday, a witness and the U.S. television network said.
A Fox spokeswoman in New York named the two journalists as correspondent Steve Centanni, an American, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, from New Zealand.
A Fox news report said the network did not know who had seized them but that “negotiations were under way to secure their release”.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction.
The witness said two vehicles blocked the journalists’ transmission truck in the center of Gaza City and a masked man put a gun to a bodyguard’s head, forcing him to the ground.
The kidnappers then sped away with the two journalists.
Palestinian police stopped and searched cars. A spokesman for Hamas, the Islamic militant group that leads the Palestinian government, condemned the kidnapping.
Similar incidents in the past in Gaza have ended with the release, usually within hours, of kidnapped foreign journalists or aid workers.
Many of the abductions were carried out by Palestinians pressing a grievance against the Palestinian government or its security forces.
Mary Katherine Ham has more.
Posted by Kathy
August 14th, 2006 at 10:43 pm
Keep in mind that this was done by Al Sksa Martyrs not Hamas. This is Fatah’s terrorist wing, aka. Mahmmoud Abbas’s terrorist group. This is the person that Olmert and Rice wish to bestow a state upon.
August 14th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
Regardless of who did the kidnapping, I like Steve Centanni and hope that he’s ok.
August 14th, 2006 at 11:55 pm
Agreed, COgirl. Let’s all hope for their safe release.