Germany's ARD asks Hamas to free Gaza cameraman

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Germany's ARD news network has urged Hamas to release one of its cameraman detained by the Islamist group during a crackdown on rival Fatah activists in the Gaza Strip, ARD's bureau chief said on Monday.

Sawah Abu Seif was detained along with scores of others hours after a bomb attack in Gaza on Friday that killed five Hamas militants and a girl. Hamas blamed Fatah for the blast.

Richard C. Schneider, ARD's regional bureau chief, said he had spoken to Mahmoud al-Zahar, a Hamas leader in Gaza, who told him he hoped Abu Seif would be released "in a couple of days".

"He told me that he had spoken to the people who took our cameraman to prison. According to them, he is a leading Fatah activist and therefore might somehow may be involved in the car bombing," Schneider told Reuters.

"I denied this to (Zahar) completely and I still deny this because I do know our cameraman and I know that he is not a political activist, not for Fatah or anybody else," he said.

Schneider said ARD was trying to use "German political channels" to secure the release of Abu Seif, a Palestinian who has worked for the publicly owned network for seven years.

"We are very worried for his safety. Nobody knows where he is being detained," Schneider said.

Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip a year ago, has arrested nearly 200 suspected loyalists of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction, which denies any involvement in Friday's deadly bombing.

In response, Abbas's security forces have launched their own campaign against Hamas, arresting about 50 activists, including university lecturers, in the occupied West Bank on Monday, Hamas sources said. Another 35 Hamas men were picked up on Sunday.

(Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Alistair Lyon)