Jerusalem (ANTARA News/AFP) - Three Israeli journalists arrested while covering the uprising in Egypt have been released and are returning to Israel, officials said on Wednesday.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmore told AFP the three had been freed and would be on a flight back to Israel later on Wednesday.

Israeli news media said the three -- two members of a television crew and a writer for an Arab Israeli website -- were being held for violating a curfew imposed by the Egyptian government amid the protests in Cairo and elsewhere.

The United States on Wednesday voiced concern at attacks on journalists covering the mass protests in Egypt, saying a free press was needed to build a civil society. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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