Two journalists working for CBS News - one a Briton - have been kidnapped in Iraq.

The pair are thought to be a British photojournalist and his interpreter.

Iraqi news agency Aswat al-Iraq (Voice of Iraq) said the pair were taken by gunmen in Basra near their Qasr al-Sultan (Sultan Palace) Hotel, on Sunday.

A CBS News spokeswoman said: "Two journalists working for CBS News in Basra are missing. All efforts are underway to find them and until we learn more details, CBS News requests that others do not speculate on the identities of those involved.

"CBS News has been in touch with the families and asks that their privacy be respected."

The wife of the Briton, a veteran freelance photographer who was in Baghdad when it was conquered in 2003, told the Independent: "We are sure he will be out as soon as he can and everything will be fine."

Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf, of the Iraqi interior ministry, said today: "There is an intensive operation underway to find the journalists.

"These are journalists doing their job and those common criminals must be brought to justice."

The journalists have not been named and no group has yet claimed responsibility.