Al Jazeera reporter detained in Iraq

The US military in Baghdad has detained a reporter for the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television broadcaster, saying he had broken unspecified “ground rules”.

A military spokesman, confirming yesterday’s arrest, said he had no other details on the incident.

The al-Jazeera reporter’s name was not released. It was not known what ground rules were broken. The US military was not known to have issued any.

Meanwhile, a top al Jazeera reporter has been in custody in the Spanish capital Madrid since Friday over allegations he is linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

Tayssir Alouni, 48, who interviewed bin Laden two years ago, was arrested at his home in southern Spain. He was questioned for nearly three hours at a closed-door hearing in Madrid on Monday, court officials said. He was then ordered held for 72 more hours while police investigated.

Jihad Ballout, an Al-Jazeera spokesman, said Alouni’s continued detention was “shocking”. He said the television network was doing all it could to clear Alouni’s name.

Alouni is a well-known war correspondent who covered the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.