PARIS, Dec. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- French President Jacques Chirac's office said Tuesday that Chirac was to break off his Christmas vacation in Morocco and go back to Paris to greet the two French journalists freed in Iraq earlier in the day.

    Chirac, who was expected to be back in Paris late Tuesday, expressed his "joy" at the news of the release of reporters Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, the French presidential Elysee palace said.

    The French Foreign Ministry confirmed the release of the two French journalists who had been held hostage in Iraq since Aug. 20 and said they were expected to return to Paris on Wednesday.

    "They have been freed. They have been handed over to French authorities. They will return (to Paris) Wednesday," French Foreign Ministry's spokesman, Herve Ladsous, said.

    The two journalists, Christian Chesnot, 37, of Radio France Internationale and Georges Malbrunot, 41, of Le Figaro, were kidnapped along with al-Jundi on Aug. 20 south of Baghdad by a group calling itself the "Islamic Army of Iraq." The group demanded that the French government revoke the headscarf ban in public schools. France rejected the demand. Enditem