BUCHAREST, Romania, March 29 (UPI) -- Three Romanian journalists missing in Iraq have been kidnapped by militants, Prima television, Bucharest, announced Tuesday.
Prima said in a statement a reporter and a cameraman from the station along with a newspaper reporter vanished Monday following an interview with interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
They were abducted in the al-Mansur quarter of the Iraqi capital.
Prima television reporter Marie Jeanne Ion telephoned the station, at the behest of the militants, to confirm the kidnapping. She then sent a cell phone text message saying: "This is no joke."
News of the kidnapping broke just as Romanian President Traian Basescu was returning home from Iraq following a visit to rally the more than 800 Romanian troops stationed in the country.
Romanian authorities said it was not clear which group was holding the journalists and no demands had yet been made.
