A BBC correspondent was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip today by unknown assailants, Palestinian officials said.
Police identified the journalist as Alan Johnston, who has been the BBC's correspondent in Gaza for three years. Officials said his rental car was found abandoned in Gaza City and that a search was underway for the British national.
"We are aware of reports concerning the whereabouts of BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston. We are currently unable to contact him and are concerned for his safety," the BBC said in a statement.
Alan Johnston in an armoured car in the Gaza Strip in August 2005. Photo: Reuters/Suhaib Salem
"We're trying to gather as much information as possible. Alan is a highly experienced and respected reporter," the BBC said.
The British Foreign Office said it was "urgently" looking into the claims.
Mr Johnston is believed to be the only Western journalist still based full time in the Gaza Strip. Most other journalists moved out of the impoverished territory last year as fighting between rival Hamas and Fatah factions intensified.
Palestinian Interior Minister Saeed Seyam of Hamas described the kidnapping as a "criminal act".
"The security services will ... pursue the criminals and bring them to justice," he told reporters.
Security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah declared a state of emergency and set up checkpoints in the streets to search for Johnston.
There have been a series of abductions of foreign journalists and aid workers in Gaza in the past year. All have been released unharmed.
The last foreign journalist to be kidnapped was a Peruvian photographer working for the French news agency Agence France-Presse in early January. The AFP photographer was released unharmed after nearly one week in captivity.
Last month three American women were abducted in the occupied West Bank and freed about an hour later.
Militants have abducted foreigners usually to try to put pressure on the Palestinian government to give them jobs or to press for the release of detained colleagues, including those inside prisons in Israel.