Palestinian gunmen kidnapped two foreign UN employees in the Gaza Strip today, but police freed them minutes later in a raid on the militants' hideout.
A UN spokesman identified the pair, employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), as Steven Karl, a Swiss national, and Christine Blunt, a Briton.
Residents and a police officer who witnessed the abduction in Khan Younis refugee camp said armed Palestinians cut off a UN vehicle, flying the world organisation's blue flag, and took the two away.
Gun battles ensued between police and the gunmen, from the dominant Fatah movement, and two civilians were wounded in the fighting, medical officials said.
Security forces are still chasing the kidnappers, a security official said.
The kidnapping is the latest in a series involving foreigners and another sign of growing lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, where Israel plans to begin a pullout next week.
It came a day after Palestinian security forces in Khan Younis arrested Sulaiman al-Fara, a top commander of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and a director of senior PLO official Farouq al-Qadoumi's office in the camp.
Dozens of Gunmen seized municipal buildings on Sunday in Khan Younis and threatened "actions beyond imagination" to secure Fara's release.
