(Updates with journalists released on bail)

NIAMEY, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Two French television journalists arrested in Niger and accused of colluding with northern Tuareg rebels were freed on bail on Friday and were expected to fly to France, their lawyer said.

The two reporters for European TV station ARTE, Thomas Dandois and Pierre Creisson, were arrested in mid-December for violating the terms of their media accreditation by filming rebel fighters in the Sahara instead of reporting about bird flu, as they had said they would.

After initial fears they might face the death penalty if convicted, a judge in Niger ordered their release on bail of 10 million CFA francs ($22,350), which was paid on Friday, their lawyer Coulibaly Moussa said.

"They have left Kollo prison (outside the capital Niamey)," he said, adding that they were planning to fly to France later on Friday.

The Paris-based media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Frontiers also confirmed their release.

It was not clear when they might be required to return to Niger to answer the accusation against them. No trial date was immediately announced.

Uranium-rich northern Niger has been on alert since August and foreign reporters are banned as part of efforts to combat rebels who have killed at least 49 government security personnel since they launched their uprising in February.

The Tuareg-led Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) is demanding greater regional autonomy and control over revenues from uranium, mined by French state-run utility Areva.

The TV journalists' arrests were the latest of several actions by President Mamadou Tandja's government that have alarmed press watchdogs.

In September, the government deported independent French TV producer Francois Begeron after holding him for a month for visiting northern Niger without its authorisation.

It continues to hold two local journalists for alleged links to the MNJ, including the local correspondent for Radio France International (RFI), Moussa Kaka, who was detained on Sept. 20. (Reporting by Abdoulaye Massalatchi; Writing by Daniel Flynn; editing by Sami Aboudi)

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