BASRA, Iraq (AFP) — Two journalists working for CBS News were kidnapped by gunmen from the Palace Sultan Hotel in the southern Iraq city of Basra, hotel staff said on Monday.
They were led away at gunpoint by a gang of about 10 gunmen on Sunday, a staff member told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The two had booked into the hotel on Saturday.
"Yesterday a group of about 10 men in civilian clothes arrived at the hotel during the day and made inquiries about who was staying there," said the staff member.
"They returned later in a SUV. They were armed," the staff members said, adding that the two journalists were taken away at gunpoint.
The US network confirmed in a statement that two of its journalists have gone missing in Basra.
"All efforts are under way to find them and until we learn more details CBS News requests that others do not speculate on the identities of those involved," the network said.
"CBS News has been in touch with the families and asks that their privacy be respected."
The association of Iraqi journalists appealed to the kidnappers to release the two men.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed alarm over the disappearance of the CBS journalists.
"We are deeply concerned for the safety of our colleagues, and hope they are located swiftly and able to resume their important work covering this critical story," said CPJ executive director Joel Simon.
"Iraq is the most dangerous country in the world for journalists and the deadliest conflict for the press in recent history. Journalists face incalculable risks in order to bring us the news about what is happening on the ground there."
Iraq has been the world's deadliest country for media staff each year since the 2003 US-led invasion, with at least 65 killed in 2007, according to the International Federation of Journalists.
The Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said at least 208 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since March 2003.
Most are Iraqis who are killed by insurgent groups or militias angered by their coverage or ideologically opposed to their employers. Others have died when caught in crossfire.
On January 30, a roadside bomb killed a cameraman and wounded two other members of an Iraqi television crew on their way to the city of Samarra north of Baghdad.
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