No sign of BBC reporter

GAZA, March 15 (UPI) -- The BBC issued a plea Thursday for information that would help locate missing Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston.

Johnston, who has been the BBC's reporter in Gaza for three years, disappeared Monday. Palestinian security officials said he was kidnapped from his car by masked gunmen, but the BBC said it had not been able to verify that information.

Other reports in Gaza said Johnston was healthy and negotiations were under way with abductors to secure his release, the network said.

BBC Middle East bureau chief Simon Wilson thanked everyone working to find Johnston, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.

"We would ... urge everyone with influence here to continue their efforts so that Alan may be reunited with his family and colleagues at the earliest opportunity," he said.

Johnston, a 44-year-old native of Tanzania, joined the network in 1991 and previously was a correspondent in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan before being assigned to Gaza.

A number of Westerners have been kidnapped in the Gaza Strip recently but all were eventually released unharmed. The motives for the kidnappings have ranged from grievances over unpaid salaries to demands for the release of jailed family members.