The International Press Institute (IPI) today expressed dismay at reports of the abduction of Spanish journalist Marc Marginedas in Syria and demanded his immediate release.

Marginedas, a special correspondent in Syria for the Barcelona-based newspaper El Periodico de Catalunya, went missing on Sept. 4.

Yesterday, the online edition of El Periodico announced that the journalist had been kidnapped by a group of insurgents.

The newspaper reported that on Sept. 4 Marginedas was travelling by car with a driver when he was stopped by jihadist fighters on the outskirts of the city of Hama, in the west of Syria. That was the last time he contacted his editors in Barcelona, who have since not been able to locate the journalist.

None of the groups fighting in Syria has claimed responsibility for Marginedas’ abduction.

Marginedas entered Syria on Sept. 1 from southern Turkey with members of the Free Syrian Army to report on the situation on the ground ahead of a possible international military intervention.

In an article published by El Periodico prior to Marginedas’ abduction, the journalist highlighted the increased danger that he felt working as a journalist in Syria, comparing it to the previous time he had been there, in April of this year.

El Periodico reported that a call appeared last week in a jihadist online forum urging readers to “capture all journalists’’ and search their equipment for photographs and news about jihadists. The forum reportedly expressed concerns that those who appeared to be journalists might, in fact, be spies.

On Sept. 16, IPI reported that nine foreign journalists and numerous Syrian journalists had been kidnapped or remained missing inside the country since the current conflict between loyalist and anti-government forces began in March 2011.

Foreign journalists currently missing in Syria include American, Jordanian, Mexican, Hungarian, French, Spanish and Polish nationals.

With a growing number of rebel groups and increasing lawlessness in rebel-held areas, travel within the country is increasingly dangerous. Kidnappers have sought to abduct journalists for ransom, while jihadist groups have accused reporters of being spies and have threatened to kill them.

Syria is one of the most dangerous and deadly countries in the world for journalists. According to IPI’s Death Watch, at least 51 journalists have been killed in the country since fighting began in 2011.