(Adds that Abu Askar is Palestinian) ABU DHABI, May 18 (Reuters) - The bureau chief of the United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi TV in Gaza, abducted briefly by Palestinian gunmen on Friday, refused to identify his captors after the television station blamed Islamist group Hamas.

"Those who abducted me are known but I do not wish to say who they are on air," Abdel-Salam Abu Askar told the television channel in a telephone interview after his release.

Abu Dhabi TV had blamed the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas for the abduction, a charge denied by a Hamas official in Gaza.

"The Hamas movement abducted the Abu Dhabi television bureau chief in Gaza," an Abu Dhabi TV news anchor said earlier.

Abu Askar, who is Palestinian, said five masked men at a checkpoint near the house of a leader of "the faction" behind his abduction had stopped him while he was driving to his office.

He said he was later taken to an unknown location where he was interrogated "about the nature of his job and where I work and my relationship with a public figure".

"They did not beat me or humiliate me ... they told me later that there was a mistake ... and that I would be released shortly, but they seem to have confiscated the car."

A colleague at the television's Gaza bureau, who gave his name as Nael, told Reuters earlier that an "Executive Force jeep dropped Askar off in the street". The Executive Force is a Hamas militia.

Nael said Abu Askar had called the office on his mobile telephone to report he had been stopped at a checkpoint set up by the Hamas militia which has been battling Fatah rivals this week.

A spokesman for Hamas denied involvement. "We have no knowledge of the abduction of the journalist. I have checked and he is not in our custody," said Hamas spokesman Islam Shahwan.

In a telephone interview with the television channel, Abu Askar's colleague in Gaza, Walid Abdul-Rahman, said he did not know the reason for the abduction. "But it seems that Hamas wants to escalate the situation," he added.

The Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said it held rival Hamas, which leads the Palestinian government, responsible for the life of the journalist.

The BBC's Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston disappeared on March 12 while driving in Gaza. Army of Islam, a little-known group, has claimed responsibility for abducting him. (Additional reporting by Nidal Al-Mughrabi in Gaza)

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