The group included correspondent Matthew McAllester, 33, and photographer Moises Saman, 29, -- both of the New York newspaper Newsday -- and two freelance photographers Molly Bingham and Johan Spanner.

"We are fine. We are well," McAllester, a Briton, told Newsday editors by telephone after crossing the border into Jordan.

According to the Newsday website, McAllester said he and Saman, a Spanish national, had been detained by Iraqi authorities early last Tuesday morning in their room at the Palestine hotel in Baghdad.

They were handcuffed and taken to a prison were they were kept until Monday and interrogated several times by Iraqi intelligence officials who suspected they may have been American spies.

The two men said they were never physically mistreated or abused although the conditions were harsh and they were confined not far from an active anti-aircraft battery.

"We thought we were going to be killed at any moment," McAllester said.

The news that the two journalist were safe was welcomed with relief at Newsday's Long Island offices.

"We are just euphoric," said Newsday Publisher and chief executive Raymond Jansen.

"They told us by phone that they are safe. It will take us a while to get the details, but we want them to enjoy their freedom and get a good night's sleep," Jansen said.

Together with the two Newsday journalists were Bingham, an American, and Spanner, a freelance photographer with the Danish daily Jyllands Posten.

The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the news that the journalists were safe, but voiced continued concern over the fate of a cameraman from Britain's ITV News and his translator who were last seen in southern Iraq on March 22 when the car reportedly came under fire.

SPACE.WIRE