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Spanish journalist taken hostage in Syria

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Spanish journalist taken hostage in Syria
A Rebel fighter aims his weapon during fighting against Syrian government forces on September 19th in the city of Aleppo. File photo: Jim Lopez

A special correspondent in Syria for the Spanish newspaper El Periodico has been kidnapped in the war-torn country, the paper announced late on Monday in its online edition.

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"Journalist Marc Marginedas abducted in Syria", the headline said, adding that the "veteran war correspondent" Marginedas has been "in the hands of a rebel group since September 4th, the last day he was in contact with editors in Barcelona".

He last filed a story — about the disappointment of rebel forces in the face of an impending US attack — of September 2nd.

El Periodico cited "various sources" saying the reporter "was travelling by car with the driver who was accompanying him when he was stopped by jihadist fighters on the outskirts of the city of Hama, in the west of Syria."

Since his abduction, the newspaper said it has not been able to contact Marginedas, who was on his third trip to Syria since the conflict began in March 2011.

Spanish journalist Marc Marginedas during a TV presentation of his book on war journalism.

Marginedas had entered Syria on September 1 from southern Turkey "accompanied by members of the opposition Syrian Free Army," which is fighting to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

El Periodico said so far no Syrian opposition group has claimed to be holding the journalist.

Earlier this month a kidnapped Italian reporter Domenico Quirico was freed and said he faced "daily humiliation" during five months in captivity in Syria and was "treated like animals" by his captors, a rebel group called al-Faruk.

He said he had probably been betrayed by members of the Free Syrian Army.

The US, Russia, China, Britain and France are currently thrashing out a resolution in support of a US–Russian deal reached earlier in September month which would see Syria's chemical weapons removed by June 2014.

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