A former regional press reporter who was captured in Libya has now been freed, his employers have announced.

Agence France-Presse reporter Dave Clark, who previously worked for Newcastle daily the Evening Chronicle, was among three journalists who went missing while reporting on the conflict in Libya.

He was with AFP photographer Roberto Schmidt and Getty Images photographer Joe Raedle but the group had not been heard from since Friday evening.

It emerged yesterday they had been captured at gunpoint by soldiers loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Saturday but the agency said they had been released in Tripoli earlier today.

Yesterday AFP chairman Emmanuel Hoog sent a letter to Colonel Gaddafi urging him to free the three journalists.

The National Union of Journalist and the French SNJ-CGT journalists’ union called on the British and French governments to work urgently to ensure the safe release of Dave, who is based at AFP’s Paris bureau, and his team.

NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said yesterday: “We understand that on Saturday, Dave and his colleagues encountered a convoy of military jeeps and transport vehicles a few dozen kilometres from Ajdabiya, and were forcibly arrested.

“Dave, who is an experienced foreign correspondent, explained in Arabic that they were journalists. But they were ordered to kneel on the side of the road with their hands on their heads, and then put into a military vehicle and driven away.

“We are naturally concerned for the safety of the three journalists, and expect the British and French governments to do everything possible to secure their immediate release.”

Welcoming the news of their release today, he said: “There is great relief among journalists everywhere that the three men are now free.”

The group was reported missing on Saturday after they were last heard from on Friday evening, saying in an email they planned to head 22 miles out of Tobruk to meet opponents of Colonel Gaddafi and speak to refugees fleeing the battles.

Dave, 38, worked for the Evening Chronicle in the late 1990s before joining AFP, where he has previously reported from a number of battlezones.