The Toledo Blade newspaper has filed a lawsuit against six government officials, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, claiming that two of its journalists were detained unlawfully while taking pictures outside a tank plant in Lima, Ohio.

The lawsuit, filed in United States District Court in Ohio last Friday, said that Tyrel Linkhorn, a reporter, and Jetta Fraser, a photographer, were detained on March 28 outside a General Dynamics tank plant after taking photographs of it. The two were held by military police officers, the suit said, and Ms. Fraser was restrained and threatened. The police officers confiscated cameras, the suit says, and deleted pictures before returning the equipment. Mr. Linkhorn and Ms. Fraser drove onto the public part of the entry road of the plant where there was no restrictive access, and did not pass a guard hut, which is about 30 feet from the road, the complaint said.

Ms. Fraser was handcuffed and referred to “in terms denoting the masculine gender,” the lawsuit said. When she objected, the lawsuit said, she was told, “You say you are a female, I’m going to go under your bra.”

The journalists were released after about 90 minutes, without being charged, but their camera equipment was only returned to them hours later after the intervention of Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, The Blade reported.