Two Spanish journalists were kidnapped in Syria on 16 September by an Islamist group linked to al-Qaeda, it has just been revealed.
The abductions of El Mundo reporter Javier Espinosa and freelance photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova were kept secret in the hope that indirect communications with the captors would bear fruit.
But no demands have been made by the group, which has been identified as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis).
El Mundo said the pair were taken at a checkpoint in Raqqa province, near the Turkish border, while leaving Syria at the end of a two-week reporting mission.
Four members of the Free Syrian Army who were protecting them were also captured, but were later released.
Espinosa's wife, Monica Prieto, said the men had "travelled a dozen times to Syria to document war crimes, risking their lives, and becoming brothers with the Syrians in their fear, misery and humanitarian crisis".
She said in an appeal to their captors: "Javier and Ricardo are not your enemy. Please, honour the revolution they protected, and set them free."
