Washington D.C. – Al Hurra, Apr. 06, 2026
Minutes before her abduction on March 31, American journalist Shiley Kitelson was having lunch at a popular restaurant in the Karrada district.
The restaurant, located on a small street and known as “Abu Ahmed Restaurant,” serves traditional Iraqi dishes.
A day earlier, Kitelson had been at the same place, according to two journalists who saw her on two consecutive days and spoke to Alhurra.
The restaurant is in a crowded area. Kitelson used to go there to buy food and had been seen there many times by journalists.
The location is about two and a half kilometers from her residence.
After passing Kahramana and Firdos squares in the Karrada area, while heading toward her residence at a hotel on Al-Za’eem Street in the Saadoun district, she was abducted.
Her kidnapping came as a “shock” to many of her colleagues. Not only that, it created a state of fear and concern among journalists, activists, and human rights defenders over the possibility of a return to the targeting they had faced in the past.
Iraqi authorities launched an urgent investigation into the incident. At the moment of the abduction, they pursued the vehicle used in the kidnapping.
They arrested the driver of the vehicle, a “Chrysler” known in Iraq as “Obama.” Yes, Iraqis refer to this car by the name of former U.S. President Barack Obama.
Authorities reviewed surveillance cameras and saw that the vehicle quickly entered the Yusufiyah expressway (a road linking Baghdad to the southern provinces).
“When our forces arrested the driver after chasing the car and after it crashed, we did not find Kitelson inside,” said a security source in the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.
He added to Alhurra: “A vehicle swap took place after her abduction.”
According to information from two Iraqi intelligence sources who spoke to Alhurra, Kitelson was transferred to Babil province, specifically to the Jurf al-Nasr subdistrict (formerly Jurf al-Sakhar).
