3 Spanish journalists kidnapped in Syria

Three Spanish journalists are missing, who were feared to have been kidnapped, in or around the Syrian City of Aleppo, according to reports in the Spanish press.

Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre, who are all freelance reporters, were confirmed by the Spanish Federation of Press Associations (FAPE) to have entered Syria through Turkey on July 10 before contact was lost with them two days later following a message posted by Sastre which read "courage" and was written in Spanish, English and Arabic on social media site Twitter.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry has confirmed it is "aware of the situation" but has made no further comment other than to say they are "working on it."

The trio are not the first Spanish reporters to have been kidnapped in Syria after Javier Espinosa, who works for the El Mundo newspaper, and freelance photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, were kidnapped in the country in 2014 and released in March this year after 194 days in captivity. Endit