A US journalist who was kidnapped in Baghdad had tried to cross from Syria into Iraq three weeks earlier and was initially turned back, an Iraqi official said Wednesday. US and Iraqi officials said Shelly Kittleson had also been warned of threats against her in the days before her abduction, per the AP. A freelance journalist working for years in Iraq and Syria, Kittleson was kidnapped from a street in the Iraqi capital on Tuesday. Hussein Alawi, adviser to PM Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, said Kittleson had sought to enter via Syria on March 9 but was turned back for not having a press work permit, and due to security concerns from an escalating Iran war.
Kittleson later entered after obtaining a single-entry visa to Iraq valid for 60 days, issued to allow foreign citizens stranded in neighboring countries to "transit through Iraq to reach their home countries via available transport routes," Alawi said. Kittleson entered Baghdad a few days before she was kidnapped and was staying in a hotel there, he added. Surveillance footage shows what seems to be the moment she was kidnapped, with two men approaching a person standing on a street corner and ushering the person into the back of a car. There appears to be a brief struggle to shut the car door before the men get into the vehicle and it drives away.
"The incident is being followed closely by Iraqi security and intelligence agencies," Alawi said. Iraqi security forces gave chase to Kittleson's captors and arrested one suspect after the car he was driving crashed, but other kidnappers were able to escape with the journalist in a second car; that captured suspect is now reportedly being interrogated. An Iraqi intelligence official said authorities believe Kittleson is being held in Baghdad and are trying to locate her and secure her release. He said authorities "have information about the abducting party," without more details.
US officials have alleged that Kittleson was taken by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-linked Iraqi militia that has been implicated in previous kidnappings of foreigners. The group hasn't claimed the kidnapping, and the Iraqi government hasn't publicly said anything about the kidnappers' affiliation. The Iraqi intel official said that prior to Kittleson's abduction, Iraqis had contacted US officials to notify them there was a specific kidnapping threat against her by Iran-affiliated militias. Dylan Johnson, US assistant secretary of state for public affairs, posted on X on Tuesday that the "State Department previously fulfilled our duty to warn this individual of threats against them." A US official added: "She was contacted multiple times with warnings of the threats against her," including as late as the night before the kidnapping. More here.
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