Westerners freed in West Bank

Palestinian police investigated the incident

Three foreigners briefly held by gunmen in the West Bank city of Nablus have been released.

A Briton, an Irishman and an American were held for about two hours after being seized in a restaurant on Friday evening and taken to a refugee camp.

Several foreign women with them at the time were allowed to go free, Palestinian security sources said.

In a separate incident, militants set fire to the governor's headquarters in the West Bank town of Jenin.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has come under growing pressure to deal with increasing unrest and lawlessness.

Splinter group

No reason was given for Friday's abductions, which were condemned by the militant al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

The group, which is affiliated to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said splinter elements might have been responsible.

The three abducted men were volunteer church workers, who have been in Nablus for three weeks.

In the Jenin incident, a dozen al-Aqsa gunmen broke into the governor's headquarters on Friday evening, Palestinian officials said.

The militants set fire to the building in protest at the governor's refusal to give them financial support, the officials added.

The extent of the damage is unclear.

It was the latest in a series of incidents that began in Gaza in early July, when al-Aqsa members staged violent protests to demands reforms of the Palestinian Authority.

The unrest began with the brief abduction of a police chief and four French aid workers.