Japanese scribe missing in Afghanistan: report

A Japanese freelance journalist has gone missing in Afghanistan, media reports in Japan said Friday, citing a local guide who said he had been kidnapped in a Taliban-controlled area.

A Japanese freelance journalist has gone missing in Afghanistan, media reports in Japan said Friday, citing a local guide who said he had been kidnapped in a Taliban-controlled area.

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A Japanese broadcaster reported the whereabouts of journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka, 40, were unknown after he had entered a Taliban-controlled area of the country.

Tsuneoka, who has covered conflicts in Russia's Chechnya, Iraq and Afghanistan, entered the country last month, visiting Kabul and Jalalabad, Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) reported.

In his last Twitter posting on Thursday morning Tsuneoka said he had gone into a Taliban-controlled area in the north of the country early Wednesday.

The broadcaster reported that an unnamed local guide had said the journalist had been kidnapped. The report did not give the geographical location.