The editor of The Australian newspaper said reporter Peter Wilson and photographer John Feder were under Iraqi guard at the Meridien Palestine hotel in Baghdad and expected to be expelled from the country.

"They were apprehended by Iraqi officials, Iraqi military yesterday afternoon Iraq time, and transported to Baghdad where they have been dumped at the Palestine Hotel," said Michael Stutchbury.

"Now they're waiting to see whether they'll be ejected from the country like Ian McPhedran was yesterday or allowed to stay and work," he told ABC radio.

McPhedran, a reporter for the Sydney Daily Telegraph, was ordered to leave Baghdad by Iraqi officials on Monday.

McPhedran told his newspaper the officials accused him of breaking regulations by travelling from his hotel to the information ministry building in Baghdad.

Wilson and Feder had been out of touch with their newspaper since Monday when they reported from the southern Iraqi town of Umm Qasr.

At that time Wilson said US-British military police had been searching for him and Feder to kick them out of Iraq.

"They don't want independent journalists, they want embedded journalists," he said, referring to reporters assigned to accompany US and British military units.

Wilson and Feder had been travelling independently in a four-wheel drive vehicle.

SPACE.WIRE