BAGHDAD — A freelance American journalist abducted in Baghdad had received multiple warnings about threats against her life, including one as recent as the evening before her kidnapping, according to U.S. and Iraqi authorities.
Shelly Renee Kittleson, who has reported extensively from Iraq and Syria for several years, was taken from a Baghdad street on Tuesday and has not been located, officials confirmed Wednesday.
According to Hussein Alawi, an adviser to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Kittleson had attempted to enter Iraq from Syria three weeks prior to her abduction but was initially denied entry at the al-Qaim border crossing on March 9. She lacked the required press credentials and officials cited security risks due to “the escalation of the war and aerial projectiles over Iraqi airspace as a result of the war on Iran.”
Kittleson subsequently obtained a 60-day transit visa designed for foreign nationals stranded in neighboring countries who need to pass through Iraq to return home, Alawi explained. She arrived in Baghdad several days before the kidnapping and had been staying at a hotel in the capital.
“The incident is being followed closely by Iraqi security and intelligence agencies under the supervision of” al-Sudani, Alawi stated. He confirmed that investigators have detained one individual suspected of participating in the kidnapping scheme and are currently questioning him.
Iraqi security forces pursued the abductors immediately after the incident, successfully apprehending one suspect when his vehicle crashed during the chase. However, other kidnappers managed to flee with Kittleson in a separate vehicle.
An Iraqi intelligence source, speaking anonymously due to lack of authorization to discuss the case publicly, said authorities believe Kittleson is being held somewhere within Baghdad and are working to determine her exact location and secure her freedom. The official noted that investigators “have information about the abducting party” but refused to provide additional specifics.
American officials have accused Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia group with a history of foreign kidnappings, of orchestrating the abduction. The organization has not taken responsibility for the incident, and Iraqi government representatives have not publicly identified the perpetrators’ affiliations.
The intelligence official revealed that before Kittleson’s kidnapping, Iraqi authorities had alerted U.S. officials about a particular threat against her from Iranian-affiliated militia groups.
Dylan Johnson, U.S. assistant secretary of state for public affairs, posted on X Tuesday that the “State Department previously fulfilled our duty to warn this individual of threats against them.”
A U.S. government source, also requesting anonymity, confirmed that “She was contacted multiple times with warnings of the threats against her,” with the most recent alert coming the night before her abduction.
Video footage acquired by The Associated Press appears to capture the kidnapping as it occurred on a Baghdad street. The surveillance recording shows two individuals approaching someone standing at a street corner and directing that person into the rear of a vehicle. The footage reveals what appears to be a brief struggle before the car door closes and the vehicle departs with the men inside.
Iranian-supported militia groups operating in Iraq have consistently targeted U.S. installations throughout the country since the start of the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.
