Spain says 'no theory ruled out' about missing journalists
Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says "no theory is being ruled out" about the fate of three Spanish journalists missing in Syria.
"The only thing we know for sure is that they have disappeared," Rajoy stated on Wednesday.
Jose Manuel Lopez, Antonio Pampliega and Angel Sastre who were reporting in the city of Aleppo, northwestern Syria, have been missing since July 12.
Lopez is an experienced photographer who has worked in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Kosovo and Iran. Pampliega is a reporter and Sastre a war correspondent who regularly works with the Spanish television network Cuatro, the radio station Onda Cero and the daily newspaper La Razón.
Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the Spanish intelligence service was on the case and its agents were working urgently to find clues on the whereabouts of the journalists.
Officials have not been able to confirm whether the reporters, who had entered Syria from Turkey on July 10 and were last heard from ten days ago, had been kidnapped.
Garcia-Margallo said as of yet no group or individual has claimed responsibility for anything regarding the disappearance of the journalists.
However, the northwestern city in which the journalists were last seen in, Aleppo, is currently a frontline conflict zone between Syrian government forces and the ISIL Takfiri terrorists.
ISIL has in the past abducted and killed a number of foreign journalists and many fear that the three Spanish journalists have been abducted by the terrorist group.
A year ago, the terrorist group broadcast a graphic video showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley, who was abducted by ISIL in Syria in November 2012.
The video purportedly shows a masked militant beheading the American journalist.
Reporters Without Borders says Syria ranks as the most dangerous country in the world for journalists.
The media rights group claims since the conflict began in Syria in 2011, at least 44 journalists have been killed across the war-torn country.
The high risk of working in Syria has discouraged a lot of Western journalists from traveling to the country to cover its news and almost no Western reporters have visited the conflict zone since ISIL began its reign of terror against foreign journalists and aid workers as well as regular citizens there.
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