BAGHDAD, March 31 (Reuters) – A female American 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 U.S. State Department official said the U.S. is tracking reports of the kidnapping but declined to provide further details, citing privacy and other considerations.
The official added that the Trump administration’s top priority is the safety and security of Americans.
The police officials said she 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; Editing by Ros Russell and Cynthia Osterman)
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