An Agence France-Presse photographer, 50-year-old Peruvian national Jaime Razuri, was kidnapped in Gaza by unknown gunmen, witnesses said.

Several unmasked gunmen abducted the photographer at the entrance to the agency's offices in the centre of Gaza City as he was returning from an assignment with a translator and a driver.

"We got out of the jeep. I heard the noise of weapons. I turned around and I saw two unmasked men. They pointed their weapons at Jaime and at me," said the translator, Hamman Al Faghawi.

"They told me to shut up and took him away in a Subaru car," he said.

There were two other armed men in the car who refused to identify themselves or to say what they wanted, the translator said.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called for a search for Razuri, according to a Palestinian Authority official.

Abbas ordered "all (Palestinian) security services" to start a search for the Peruvian photographer, the official said.

Abductions of foreigners have been increasing in the past year in the Palestinian territories, especially in the volatile Gaza Strip.

Around 20 foreigners, including several journalists, have been kidnapped in more than a year in Gaza. All were released soon after being abducted.

In most cases, the hostage taking is aimed at obtaining concessions from the Palestinian Authority such as prisoner releases rather than foreign governments.

Two Italian aid workers were briefly kidnapped on November 21 after being abducted at gunpoint while driving alone back to Gaza City from the south of the territory.

A 34-year-old Spanish aid worker was abducted and held for several hours on October 30.

And on October 24, Spanish photographer Emilio Morenatti, from the US news agency Associated Press, was also briefly detained before being released the same day.

Razuri is a veteran photographer who has covered stories for AFP in Latin America, the Middle East and Europe, including a three-month stint in Iraq in 2006.

He has taken part in exhibitions in the United States and Peru and in keeping with his preferred subjects of the environment and health has been working on a project covering the spread of AIDS in Peru

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