American journalist kidnapped in Baghdad, police officials say

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative file photo — American Journalist Shelly Kittleson. (Facebook)

BAGHDAD, March 31  -  An American woman journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad on Tuesday and authorities are searching the city for her, two police officials said.

The Iraqi interior ministry confirmed the abduction of a female journalist but did not disclose her nationality. The ministry said one suspect was arrested and efforts were ongoing to free the journalist. 

Police officials who declined to be named later identified the victim as Shelly Kittleson. 

Middle East news site AL-Monitor said Kittleson is a U.S. freelance journalist based in Rome who has covered several wars in the region and contributed articles to the outlet. 

A State Department official said the U.S. was aware of the reported kidnapping of an American journalist in Baghdad, adding that Washington had previously issued a warning.

"The State Department previously fulfilled our duty to warn this individual of threats against them and we will continue to coordinate with the FBI to ensure their release as quickly as possible," Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson said on X. He did not name Kittleson.

Johnson reiterated that Americans are advised not to travel to Iraq for any reason.

The police officials said Kittleson was seized by four men in civilian clothes and taken in a vehicle.

The search is focused on the eastern part of the capital where the kidnappers' vehicle was headed, they added.

An Israeli-Russian graduate student from Princeton University was kidnapped by an Iran-aligned Shi'ite militia during a research trip to Iraq in March 2023 and was released in 2025.

 (Reporting by Jaidaa Taha, Menna Alaa El-Din and Ahmed Rasheed and Simon Lewis; Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Ros Russell, Cynthia Osterman and Alistair Bell // REUTERS)