CNN producer kidnapped in Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Gazan gunmen Monday kidnapped veteran CNN producer Riad Ali.

CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman reported the kidnapping occurred at 6:35 p.m. when they left their offices in Gaza City.

"We just drove around the corner and we were going up a main street (when) ... a white Peugeot drove in front of us. A man got out of the car ... pulled a gun out of his trousers, came up to the car and said ... in Arabic ... "Which one of you is Riad?"

The producer said: "I'm Riad."

Several people, some armed with Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles and others with pistols drove him away, Wedeman said.

Israel's Channel 10 TV said various Palestinian organizations denied involvement in the kidnapping.

In May Palestinians tried to kidnap New York Times correspondent James Bennet outside a Rafah hospital. A man tried to drag him to an old car whose rear door was open. Bennet's shouts alerted policemen and the would-be kidnappers escaped.

Ali is from an Arab whose living in Galilee.