An Improvement on "Militants" - "Extremists"

As Little Green Footballs points out, the media is referring Pals. in some instances of "extremists" which we can presume is one level, at least, above "militants".

Here:-

A Palestinian extremist group on Wednesday claimed to be holding a BBC journalist kidnapped nearly two months ago in Gaza and demanded the release of a radical Muslim cleric in British custody.

Probably it's all the BBC's fault. After all, it one of theirs kidnapped.