Unidentified gunmen kidnapped a British journalist from his hotel in southern Iraqi city of Basra, police said Friday.

About 20 masked gunmen, some dressed as police, stormed the Al-Diyafa hotel on Thursday and asked a receptionist to show the guest book. The gunmen found the journalist and shot him twice in the leg before taking him away.

A video tape released later in Basra showed that a gunman standing next to the journalist threatened to kill him if US forces do not stop assaulting the Shiite holy city of Najaf within 24 hours.

But a British military spokesman in Basra said he could not confirm the kidnapping, and it was still unclear if the gunmen had any links to Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army.