Hamas arrests member of group holding reporter

Hamas on Monday arrested the spokesman of a shadowy Palestinian group holding a British Broadcasting Corp. reporter, gaining what could be a valuable bargaining chip in the effort to secure the correspondent’s release.

Abu Khatab Maqdisi was arrested while trying to fire on members of a Hamas-allied security force, said Sami abu Zuhri, a senior official of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that now controls the Gaza Strip. Abu Zuhri denied any link between Maqdisi’s arrest and efforts to free BBC reporter Alan Johnston, who was kidnapped on a Gaza City street March 12.

But a later statement from Hamas said several people involved in Johnston’s kidnapping were arrested “after the failure of peaceful efforts to release him.” Two other Army of Islam members were arrested last week.

The Army of Islam has demanded that Britain first release a radical Muslim cleric with ties to Al Qaeda. It has threatened to kill Johnston if Hamas tries to free him by force.

The group also threatened to release what it said were damaging documents about Hamas if Maqdisi remained in custody.

Johnston has been held longer than any Western journalist abducted in Gaza. Hamas has said it knows where to find him but has not raided the hide-out for fear he will be harmed.

The Army of Islam last week posted a video message from Johnston in which he said he was dressed in an explosives belt that his captors would detonate if there was an attempt to free him.

The same group was involved in the capture of Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was seized more than a year ago in a raid on an Israeli army post near Gaza and remains missing.