Two New York Times reporters and two photographers have been missing in Libya for more than 24 hours, according to the Times.

Reporters Anthony Shadid (pictured) and Stephen Farrell—who was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2009 and later rescued in a raid that killed his Afghan fixer—were last heard from Tuesday morning, according to the paper. Photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario were with them and are also missing. According to second-hand reports, they were "on the ground in the port city of Ajdabiya had been swept up by Libyan government forces."

Times editor Bill Keller said the paper was in contact with Libyan authorities and had been assured that the government was trying to locate the missing journalists: "We are grateful to the Libyan government for their assurance that if our journalists were captured they would be released promptly and unharmed." It's unclear whether the Times currently has any other reporters on the ground inside Libya.

When Farrell went missing in Afghanistan, and when Times reporter David Rohde was kidnapped there, the Times asked for, and largely received, a media blackout on the hostage situations—in Rohde's case, the blackout lasted for nine months. It's unclear why the paper has decided to report on the current situation.

[Photo of Shadid via AP]