Iraqi security forces scrambled to find kidnapped US citizens

Iraqi authorities are searching for three American citizens kidnapped from the home of their interpreter on Friday. No one has made demands or claimed responsibility for the abduction meanwhile.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab & agencies

18 January, 2016

Iraqi security forces are searching for three US citizens kidnapped in Dora near Baghdad [AFP]

Iraqi security forces set up checkpoints on Monday in the Dora neighbourhood southeast of Baghdad, where media reports said three US nationals were kidnapped on Friday, witnesses said.

Two Iraqi army helicopters were also seen hovering over the district while police SUVs were patrolling the streets.

Iraqi police sources told The New Arab's Arabic service the army and Counter-Terrorism Service forces have raided more than 100 locations south, east and north of the capital where armed militias are known to operate.

The US State Department said on Sunday it was working with Iraqi authorities to locate Americans reported missing, without confirming that they had been kidnapped.

Dubai-based news channel Al-Arabiya reported on Sunday that three US nationals had been kidnapped in Dora on Friday. Citing its own sources, it said the Americans were "contractors or trainers" employed by US companies at the Baghdad airport.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi government intelligence official, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity, said the missing Americans were kidnapped from their interpreter's home in Baghdad.

The kidnapping occurred, the official said, after the Americans were invited into the home of their interpreter in the southern Baghdad neighbourhood of Dora.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

Kidnappings in Iraq have been carried out by the Islamic State group, Shia militias and criminal gangs often demanding ransom payments or seeking to resolve workplace disputes.

In mid-December, gunmen kidnapped at least 26 Qataris from their desert hunting camp in Iraq near the Saudi border.

The US citizens were kidnapped days after leaders of the Popular Mobilisation militia issued threats against US forces in Iraq for their "colonial ambitions" in the country, as they said.