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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: August 16, 2006 |
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The wife of a kidnapped Fox News cameraman made a public plea to his kidnappers on Wednesday to release him and another journalist, while Palestinian officials said they still have no firm leads where they are being held, but are concentrating on Gaza City.
The cameraman, Olaf Wiig, 36, a New Zealander, and Fox reporter Steve Centanni, 60, a U.S. citizen, were abducted Monday from their vehicle near the Palestinian security services headquarters. Major militant groups in Gaza have denied involvement, and the kidnappers have yet to make any demands.
Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, appealed for their release.
"The bottom line is, there is no good reason for these two men to be held," said McNaught, a freelance television journalist. "They are friends of the Palestinians. They are here telling the Palestinian story for weeks now, when the rest of the world's media has not been here."
Directing her words to her husband in the interview with AP Television News and choking back tears, McNaught said: "It's going to be all right. You are going to come home to me."
Jan Henderson, the New Zealand ambassador to Israel and Turkey, met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza on Wednesday to discuss the incident.
"(Abbas) reassured her that this ordeal will be over soon. He is personally leading this effort, and every effort is being exerted to ensure their release," said Palestinian lawmaker Saeb Erekat.
A Palestinian security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said efforts were concentrating on the Gaza City area.
All Palestinian militant factions have denied involvement in the kidnapping and Palestinian officials said it was unusual for kidnappers not to make any demands for two days.
A lack of demands has made it difficult to trace the abductors, or understand why they kidnapped the journalists, officials said.
McNaught said the hardest part of waiting was the kidnapper's silence.
"I am told it's unusual not to have heard something of the demands of the kidnappers by now. It's difficult dealing with no information on how he is," she said.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has expressed her country's deep concern for Wiig's safety.
Many foreigners have been abducted in Gaza in recent years, most by gunmen with ties to the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Abbas' Fatah movement.
The ruling Hamas movement has not played a prominent role in past kidnappings of foreigners.
In June, Hamas-allied militants abducted an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, in a cross-border raid that triggered a major Israeli offensive in the coastal strip. |
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