The Iraqi Journalists Union called on the Libyan authorities to release an Iraqi reporter who was detained when covering the conflicts in the north African country.

"The Iraqi Journalists Union demanded the Libyan authorities headed by Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi to set free the Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abul-Ahad, a correspondent for Britain's Gardian newspaper, who has been missing in the coastal area of al-Zawiya west of Tripoli," the Iraqi Union said in a statement obtained by Xinhua on Saturday.

Abdul-Ahad, 36, had been reporting for his newspaper in al- Zawiya area when the forces loyal to Muammar al-Gaddafi took over the area from the rebels after fighting, the statement said.

"There have been almost certain information that he (Abul-Ahad) is in the state custody," the statement added.

The journalist, an award-winning war correspondent, began his media working after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 for several western media outlets.