IDF: No Israeli soldier found to be kidnapped

August 14, 2009

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A previously unknown Palestinian group's claim that it kidnapped an Israeli soldier is false, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The Israel military conducted an internal check on Aug. 13 and did not discover any soldiers were missing.

A group calling itself the Al Quds Army had released a statement that day announcing it abducted an Israeli soldier.

"A group of our resistance fighters captured a Zionist soldier near Ben-Gurion Airport and withdrew along with the soldier without incident," said the statement sent to the Palestinian news agency Ma'an. "We will provide details about the captured soldier later."

In addition, a female soldier had filed a report that day claiming she saw two people forcing a soldier into a car near an Air Force base near the international airport, the IDF spokesman said in a statement.

Army and police checkpoints were set up on roads near major Israeli cities as well as in the West Bank.

Ma'an reported that a soldier made a phone call to an unnamed person claiming to have been kidnapped.

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