Palestinian security officials are verifying claims made by the Islamic extremist group Ansar A-Sunna that it has kidnapped an American teenager, Michael Leighton Phillips, in the West Bank city of Nablus. The IDF confirmed that it received a report that a foreign citizen had been kidnapped but said it remains unclear if he is American or British.
An American consulate official said that Phillips was missing but could not confirm that he was kidnapped. Phillips was working with Project Hope by teaching English in refugee camps near Nablus.
Rabi'a Abu Layl, a senior activist with the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, said: "Not only we have no contact with them, but we condemn the incident. If this youth was kidnapped in Nablus itself, then the issue is serious since foreign teenagers staying here despite the situation are usually volunteers who come to help us on humanitarian missions." Sorry Rabi'a, but we have not forgotten the kidnapping and forced conversion of Fox News journalist Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig this summer who were reporting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
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