TEHRAN, Aug 11 (AFP) - Iraqi police arrested three journalists of the Iranian state news agency IRNA and confiscated their equipment, a senior editor at the agency told AFP here Wednesday.
Baghdad bureau chief Mostafa Darban and two Iraqi staff, Mohammed Khafaji and Mohsen Madani, "were arrested and we don`t know what has happened to a fourth" journalist at the office, said international news editor Hassan Lavasani.
The arrests took place overnight Monday, he said, adding that the journalists were currently being held at the Iraqi interior ministry.
"We don`t know why they were arrested," he said. "The office equipment was taken away by police."
Iraqi police, quoted by IRNA, said only they were aware of the "arrests" but did not elaborate, amid cooling ties between Baghdad and Tehran due to charges of Iranian interference in the war-torn country.
The agency`s office in Baghdad has been out of telephone contact with Tehran since Monday, IRNA said, adding that the Iranian charge d`affaires had asked for an explanation from Iraqi authorities.
The incident follows the kidnapping of Iranian diplomat Fereydoun Jahani, who went missing on August 4 on the road leading from Baghdad to Karbala, in central Iraq, where Tehran had just opened a consulate.