The three Malaysian journalists who were abducted yesterday outside Baghdad have been released unharmed while two doctors who were injured in the same ambush are under treatment in a local hospital.

The three New Straits Times photographer Annuar Hashim, The Sun reporter Terrence Fernandez and RTM cameraman Omar Salleh were abducted by a group of armed men.

The group also shot two doctors with the Malaysian Medical Relief Society (Mercy).

Bernama quoted Zukri Valenteno Ali, coordinator of the Joint Media Team Malaysia (JMTM) sent to cover the Iraq war, as saying that the journalists were travelling with the volunteers for a story o­n medical aid when the incident took place.

Travelling in a van

Acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the two doctors Mercy president Dr Jemilah Mahmood and her colleague Dr Baba Deani were travelling in a van to the city to help victims of the war in Iraq.

Their Iraqi interpreter was shot dead by the gunmen while another interpreter managed to escape and inform the JMTM of the incident, added Abdullah.

The foreign and information ministries sent the 28 journalists from various local media organisations early this month to Iraq as part of a plan to get first-hand reporting o­n the war from Malaysian journalists rather than the 'biased' Western media.

The JMTM contingent is led by NST editor Ahmad A Talib.

Abdullah said the government would leave it to the JMTM secretariat in Amman to decide if the journalists should be withdrawn from Baghdad.

Families informed

"They have to use their discretion because the situation there is changing very fast," Bernama quoted him as saying.

He added families of the injured doctors and employers of the journalists had been informed about the incidents.

In a related development, Defence Minister Najib Abdul Razak said he would discuss with Abdullah o­n measures to be taken to rescue the journalists and volunteers.

He said the government was prepared to evacuate the Malaysians from Iraq.