French reporter missing in Iraq

Italian forces are deployed in Nasiriya

A French-American journalist is reported to have been kidnapped along with his Iraqi translator in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya.

Officials said the two went missing on Friday. The translator's family first reported their disappearance.

The missing journalist has been identified as Micah Garen - founder and head of Four Corners Media.

The company has been working on stories about the looting of archaeological sites in Iraq following the war.

A spokesman for Italian forces in Nasiriya, which lies about 320 kilometres south-east of Baghdad, said they were looking into the report.

The US embassy in Baghdad and the French foreign ministry also said they were investigating the disappearance.

Militants in the southern city of Basra kidnapped then released a British journalist on Friday.

They initially threatened to kill 23-year-old James Brandon unless US troops pulled out of the Shia holy city of Najaf, but he was freed after the intervention of aides to militant cleric Moqtada Sadr.