Hope Dims For Imminent Release of BBC Reporter

JERUSALEM, June 25 -- The release Monday of a new video showing BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who was kidnapped March 12 in the Gaza Strip, appeared to dash hopes raised last week that his release was imminent.

Johnston, 45, was shown in the Internet video wearing what he described as an explosive vest and warning that he would be killed if there was an attempt to secure his release by force.

"The situation now is very serious," Johnston said in the video, posted on a Web site used frequently by radical Islamic groups. "As you can see, I have been dressed in an explosive belt, which the kidnappers say will be detonated if there is any attempt to storm this area."

After completing a brutal five-day conquest of Gaza on June 14, leaders of the armed Islamic movement Hamas pledged to secure Johnston's release within days. Hamas's armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and its affiliated security force set a 48-hour ultimatum for Johnston's release that has since been extended several times.

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader in Gaza, told supporters there Sunday that "we will not allow the continuation of the abduction of the British journalist." Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah dismissed Haniyeh as Palestinian prime minister and dissolved his governing cabinet after the Gaza fighting, although Hamas officials say the decree is illegal and continue to operate a parallel government in Gaza.

Johnston is being held by a secretive group that calls itself the Army of Islam and says it acts in the spirit of al-Qaeda. In previous statements, the group has demanded the release of Abu Qatada, a Palestinian-born Muslim cleric being held in Britain on suspicion of having links with al-Qaeda.

The group is thought to be controlled by the Dagmoush clan, a powerful family said to be motivated more by profits than jihad. In the case of two kidnapped Fox News journalists last year, the Dagmoush clan turned the men over to Islamic radicals during their two weeks in captivity, Western diplomatic officials said at the time.

There are fears now of a split between the Dagmoush clan, once closely affiliated with Hamas and now its target, and the Islamic gunmen holding Johnston over whether to release him. Clan members also may fear Hamas will move against them militarily once they release Johnston, although Hamas officials have said they will ensure the clan's safety once the journalist is released.

Johnston said negotiations for his release had reached a decisive phase until recent setbacks.

"Captors tell me that very promising negotiations were ruined when the Hamas movement and the British government decided to press for a military solution to this kidnapping," he said in the video.