By Ally Uhlendorf
Editorialist
American journalist Shelly Kittleson was kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday. Iraqi security forces are pursuing her captors, Iraqi officials said, according to AP News.
In a statement, the Iraqi interior ministry said that a foreign journalist had been kidnapped. No further details were provided about the victim’s identity until she was later identified by one of the outlets she worked for.
Al-Monitor, a news publication covering the Middle East, identified the captured journalist as Kittleson, a freelancer who wrote for the news site. In a statement, Al-Monitor said it is “deeply alarmed” by the kidnapping. Kittleson has been a longtime writer in the region, reporting from both Syria and Iraq.
Two cars were involved in the kidnapping, one that had crashed and been apprehended while being intercepted by authorities near Al-Haswa, a town southwest of Baghdad. The journalist was transferred to a second car that fled the scene, capturing her.
The ministry stated that security had launched a hunt to track down the captors, “acting on precise intelligence and through intensive field operations,” according to AP News.
One suspect was arrested, but the others remain at large, officials say.
The United States State Department said in a statement, “The Trump Administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans.”
The reason for the kidnapping is still unclear, with speculations relating to the ongoing regional war. Since the start of this war, the U.S. embassy has warned of kidnapping risks against U.S. citizens in the Middle East, urging them to leave and return to the states.
This is a developing story, more details to come.
