Taliban Claims Kidnapping of Journalist

An undated picture made available by the Italian daily La Repubblica, showing Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo. The newspaper has lost contact with Mastrogiacomo in Afghanistan, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, March 6, 2007. Rome daily La Repubblica has had no contact with Daniele Mastrogiacomo since Sunday, the ministry said. (AP Photo/La Repubblica) (AP)

Mastrogiacomo, who speaks English, has worked since 2002 as a staff correspondent in Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was "greatly concerned about the welfare of our colleague Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who was doing his job documenting the news."

"We call on those holding any members of the press to release them unharmed immediately," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement issued in New York.

Afghan officials said they had no information on the alleged kidnapping.

Most of the NATO-led troops in Helmand province are British, and the alliance on Tuesday launched an offensive against militants in the northern part of Helmand, a Taliban stronghold.

Mastrogiacomo's disappearance comes four months after the release of Italian photographer, Gabriele Torsello, was kidnapped Oct. 12 while traveling by bus from Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, to neighboring Kandahar. When he was released Nov. 3 Torsello said he did not know who was responsible for his kidnapping.

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Associated Press writer Maria Sanminiatelli in Rome contributed to this report.