Rome, Aug 25 (IANS/RIA Novosti): The four Italian journalists, who were abducted Wednesday in Libya, have been kept in apartments in southern suburbs of Tripoli, Italy's Consul in Benghazi Guido De Sanctis said.

Armed militants abducted two correspondents of Corriere della Sera newspaper, Elisabetta Rosaspina and Guiseppe Sarcina, along with Domenico Quirico, a correspondent from La Stampa daily, and Claudio Monici, a correspondent from Avvenire newspaper, some 80 km (some 50 miles) from the Libyan capital.

"The four journalists are in apartments in Tripoli between Bab al-Azizia district and Rixos hotel," De Sanctis was quoted as saying by Corriere della Sera website.

According to Italian media, the car carrying journalists was stopped by armed assailants Wednesday. They killed the driver, robbed the journalists and then handed them over to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's supporters.

One of the journalists, Claudio Monici, managed to get in touch later with his Avvenire newspaper management and described what happened to them.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has expressed hope that the journalists would be rescued as soon as possible.