US, Iraq Search for Americans Kidnapped in Baghdad

Local Editor

American and Iraqi authorities were searching Monday for three missing Americans said to have been kidnapped in Baghdad, the latest group of foreign nationals abducted in recent months.

Kidnappers had recently seized Qataris and Turks, but it had been years since Americans were abducted, and it is Iraqis who had suffered the most from kidnappers seeking ransoms or to settle scores.

The "ISIS" group, which overran large areas in 2014, has abducted thousands of people and carried out a slew of executions.

"We are aware of reports that American citizens are missing in Iraq," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

"We are working with the full cooperation of the Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the individuals," Kirby added, without providing details about their number or the circumstances of their disappearance.

An Iraqi police colonel said on condition of anonymity that three Americans and an Iraqi translator were kidnapped in southern Baghdad.

The colonel said on Monday that the search was at that point mainly an intelligence effort.

The officer earlier said that according to information he had received, the kidnappers were militiamen wearing military uniforms.

"We don't know what their work is," the colonel said of the kidnapped Americans.

Iraq turned to popular forces to help combat the Islamic State jihadist group, which overran large parts of the country in 2014.

These groups, which fall under an umbrella organization known as the Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization units, played a key role in the fight against the Takfiri militants.

Dozens of foreign nationals have been kidnapped in two incidents during the past five months, but kidnappers also frequently target Iraqis.

Last month, gunmen kidnapped more than two dozen Qataris who had come to southern Iraq to hunt. Their whereabouts are still unknown, as are the identities of their kidnappers.

The kidnapping of the Qataris came a little over three months after gunmen seized 18 Turks in Baghdad. They were later released unharmed.

It has been years since an American was kidnapped in Iraq.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team