Three Spanish journalists go missing in Syria

Madrid: Three Spanish journalists have gone missing, and are feared to have been kidnapped near the Syrian city of Aleppo, media reports said on Tuesday.

Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre — all freelance reporters — were confirmed by the Spanish Federation of Press Associations (FAPE) to have entered Syria through Turkey on July 10, Xinhua reported.

It said contact was lost with them two days later following a message posted by Sastre which read "courage" and written in Spanish, English and Arabic on Twitter.

The Spanish foreign ministry said it was "aware of the situation" but made no further comment other than to say it was "working on it".

The three are not the first Spanish reporters to have gone missing in Syria.

Javier Espinosa, who works for the El Mundo newspaper, and freelance photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, were kidnapped in 2014 and released in March this year after 194 days in captivity.