Washington D.C. – Al Monitor, Mar. 31, 2026
Local authorities are searching for Shelley Kittleson, who was abducted in Baghdad.
American freelance journalist Shelley Kittleson was abducted by unidentified individuals in Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said, as security forces worked to track down the perpetrators.
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.
Kittleson’s kidnapping recalls that of Russian Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov at a Baghdad cafe in March 2023. She was held hostage by the pro-Iranian militia, Kataib Hezbollah, for 903 days before she was freed under a deal that was brokered by the United States.
Kittleson, an American citizen who has spent years in Italy and is currently based in Rome, is known for her courageous reporting from war zones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Kittleson has no known agenda and has contributed to numerous publications, including Al-Monitor.
