It said that Majed Hameed was detained by US forces last week while "attending the mourning of a family member".

Hameed, who also worked on a freelance basis for Reuters, was arrested along with several other men at the funeral. The channel said it had been told by the US military the men were being held at an American facility in western Anbar province.

"Al-Arabiya considers the detention of its reporter to be a blatant violation of internationally recognised guidelines and regulations that safeguard press freedoms and freedom of expression," the Dubai-based news broadcaster said in a statement.

Reuters said it was deeply concerned that another Iraqi journalist was being held without charge by US forces.

Ali Omar Abrahem al-Mashhadani, a freelance cameraman who worked for the news agency in Ramadi, was arrested last month and is being held in Abu Ghraib prison.

"It is imperative that journalists should not be held in Iraq unless there are proper and public charges to justify their detention," a Reuters spokeswoman said.

Another Iraqi cameraman working for Reuters, Haider Kadhem, was taken into custody last month after he was wounded in an incident that killed his sound man. He was released after three days in custody.

Separately, two journalists with the Iraqi daily al-Safir were killed this week in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Firas al-Maadhidi, the head of al-Safir's bureau in Mosul, was gunned down by two men outside his home in the An-Nur section of the city yesterday.

And Hind Ismail, a reporter who worked for Mr al-Maadhidi, was also shot dead on Tuesday in the city centre by men wearing police uniforms.

Press freedom organisation Reporters Sans Frontieres condemned the killings, which it said brought the journalists death toll in Iraq to 71.

"Journalists continue to be preferred targets in Iraq," it said in a statement.

"Two have been killed in the space of just 24 hours in Mosul, which has become the second most dangerous city for the press in Iraq. We reiterate our requests to the Iraqi authorities and coalition forces to carry out rapid and thorough investigations."