The journalist was identified as Shelly Kittleson.
One suspect has been arrested, The Jerusalem Post noted.
Footage below:
🚨 BREAKING: U.S. journalist Shelly Kittleson has been kidnapped in Baghdad, and authorities are actively searching for her, Iraq’s Interior Ministry confirms.
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 31, 2026
More from The Jerusalem Post:
The journalist’s identity was later confirmed to Reuters by Iraqi police sources as Shelly Kittleson.
The US State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Police sources said they were still chasing a vehicle in which she was taken by force by four men in civilian clothes.
The search is focused in the eastern part of the capital where the kidnappers’ vehicle was headed, police sources added.
“The Ministry of Interior announces that this evening, a foreign journalist was subjected to a kidnapping incident by unidentified individuals,” the country’s Ministry of Interior stated.
تعلن وزارة الداخلية، انه في مساء هذا اليوم تعرّضت صحفية أجنبية إلى حادث اختطاف من قبل مجهولينhttps://t.co/2rRqBpVTYO pic.twitter.com/u34xoSAyvC
— وزارة الداخلية العراقية (@socialmoigoviq) March 31, 2026
“Award-winning journalist reporting from the Middle East and Afghanistan,” Kittleson’s X account states.
Her Instagram account says she is based mostly in Baghdad.
🚨AL-MONITOR statement calling for the release of contributor Shelly Kittleson after her kidnapping in Iraq: https://t.co/vBVXVi2zdg
— AL-MONITOR (@AlMonitor) March 31, 2026
AL-MONITOR wrote:
We are deeply alarmed by the kidnapping of Al-Monitor contributor Shelly Kittleson in Iraq on Tuesday. We call 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.
This story is developing.
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