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The Iraqi government announced on Tuesday that a foreign female journalist has been kidnapped, and efforts are underway to locate those responsible and ensure her safe return.
According to Iraq’s Interior Ministry, the abduction took place in the evening. Security forces quickly responded by chasing the kidnappers, which led to a vehicle overturning as the culprits attempted to escape.
The ministry reported that one suspect has been apprehended, and one of the vehicles used in the kidnapping was confiscated by security forces.
“The Ministry is committed to continuing its pursuit of the remaining suspects, ensuring the journalist’s safe release, and implementing all necessary legal actions against everyone involved in this crime,” stated an official release originally in Arabic.
The identity of the journalist has not been disclosed by the Interior Ministry. The Hill has contacted the State Department for further comments.
Alex Plitsas, a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council and a former Pentagon official, posted on the social platform X that the kidnapped journalist is Shelly Kittleson, adding that he is her designated U.S. point of contact.
“She’s the sweetest person in the world and she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body,” Plitsas said in a text to The Hill, adding she’s an American citizen who has worked in Iraq for years and also reported from Syria.
He said in his original post that any information on her whereabouts and condition should be provided to law enforcement and can be delivered to him through a direct message on X.
“I can confirm that my friend Shelly Kittleson was abducted and may have taken hostage in Baghdad by Khatib [sic] Hezbollah,” he wrote.
“Whereabouts and condition unknown. I am her designated U.S. point of contact. If you have information please provide to law enforcement and send me a DM.”
Kittleson was a contributor to the online news site Al-Monitor, which said in a statement that the organization is “deeply alarmed” by her kidnapping and called for her safe and immediate release.
“We stand by her vital reporting from the region and call for her swift return to continue her important work,” Al Monitor said in a statement.
Kataib Hezbollah is a powerful, Iranian-backed militia in Iraq and held Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov hostage for two-and-a-half years before she was freed with the intervention on the U.S. Tsurkov has detailed the torture and sexual assault she endured during her captivity in media interviews and her own account in an article published by The Atlantic.
The militia is reportedly closely aligned with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is described as founded on an anti-American sentiment with the goal of driving U.S. forces from Iraq.
But the group is also reported to be partly financed by the Iraqi government.