The German Foreign Office says it is working to clarify the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of a German journalist in Syria.
A spokesman in Berlin stated that the German Embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, was working hard on the matter.
The embassy in Beirut, which is responsible for consular affairs, is also in contact with the Syrian authorities.
No further information was provided. “But rest assured, we are working hard to clarify the situation,” said the spokesman.
According to media reports, the journalist from Cologne went missing in northern Syria in mid-January in connection with an offensive by the Syrian Army.
The Kölner Stadtanzeiger newspaper reported, citing family members, that she had been arrested together with a Turkish colleague by forces of the Syrian transitional government and taken away in a car.
Der Spiegel magazine quoted the woman’s brother as saying that she and her colleague had sought refuge in a youth centre, where they were tracked down, placed in cars belonging to the Syrian Interior Ministry and driven away.