CBS News duo nabbed by gunman
Employees kidnapped in Iraq
They were led away at gunpoint by a gang of about 10 gunmen on Sunday, according to the witnesses.
CBS said 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 pair, a British journalist and his Iraqi translator, had checked into the hotel on Saturday.
The kidnapping has aroused concern among journalists' organizations. 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 employees. "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 exec director Joel Simon. Journalists in Iraq "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 journalists and media staff each year since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, with at least 65 killed in 2007, according to the Intl. 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 the start of the war in March 2003. Most are Iraqis who have been killed by insurgent groups or militias angered by their coverage or ideologically opposed to their employers. Others have died when caught in crossfire.
On Jan. 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.
