New claim in journalist’s abduction

A second Islamist terrorist group claimed responsibility for the abduction of a British journalist in the Gaza Strip. The Army of Islam posted an Internet statement Wednesday that included an image of BBC reporter Alan Johnston’s identification card and a demand that Arab terrorist suspects detained in Britain be freed.The demands were rejected by the Palestinian Authority government, which has come under international censure for its failure to resolve the 2-month-old crisis over Johnston’s disappearance.An unknown Islamist group with apparent al-Qaida links had claimed it executed Johnston. The Palestinian Authority later said it had evidence the journalist was alive.The Army of Islam, along with Hamas and another Palestinian faction, carried out the June 25 abduction of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, on the Gaza boundary