JUST IN: American Journalist Kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraqi Ministry Says

(Photo Credit: Shelly Kittleson on X)

American reporter Shelly Kittleson has been kidnapped in Iraq, the Iraqi ministry of the interior confirmed on Tuesday.

Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst was among those who shared the disturbing news on X.

His post came 20 minutes after Al Jazeera producer Saad Abedine posted Kittleson was abducted in Central Baghdad by “unidentified perpetrators affiliated with Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite militias.” Abedine’s post included footage of a woman being pushed into a car by two men during the middle of the day; that footage had been played on a local news station.

Abedine later reported the vehicle belonging to the kidnappers was “intercepted” by cops and overturned “as they attempted to escape.” One of the suspects was arrested and the vehicle was seized, but Kittleson was not located.

Kittleson is a Middle East-focused freelance reporter who has published stories for the BBC, Al-Monitor, and Politico, among other outlets. Her X account shows her current location as Iraq, and her most recent activity was sharing a Reuters post on Monday about Spain closing its airspace to U.S. planes involved in attacks against Iran.

Al-Monitor reported on Tuesday:

The ministry said the operation was launched immediately based on what it called “precise intelligence.” It added that authorities had intercepted a vehicle believed to belong to the abductors that flipped over as they tried to flee. However, Kittleson was not in the vehicle. Local news reports indicated she was taken near the Baghdad Hotel on Saadoun Street.

The outlet added Kittleson has “no known agenda.”

Her most recent story was published earlier this year in The New Arab, examining the relationship between the Syrian government and its Kurdish minority. The Wisconsin native said in 2017 that reporting from war-torn countries has “clearly given me a purpose in life, to a certain extent. It has also given me nightmares at times.”

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