Syrian kidnappers seize Spanish reporter and photographer

Spanish newspaper El Mundo says one of its reporters and a freelance photographer are being held hostage in Syria by a group linked to al-Qaida.

On Tuesday El Mundo said that veteran reporter Javier Espinosa and photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova were taken captive on 16 September.

It said it had not publicised the news because their families were trying to make discreet contact with their captors.

The newspaper said the two were taken along with four members of the Free Syrian Army rebel group at the Tal Abyad checkpoint in the northern province of Raqqa.

It identified the kidnappers as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria group known by its initials, ISIS.
the guardian