An American journalist who frequently covered the Middle East has reportedly been kidnapped in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, with terrifying surveillance footage showing armed men bundling her into the back of a car.
Tuesday’s abduction of Shelly Kittleson, 49, from Monticello, Wisconsin, was confirmed by Al-Monitor, the independent media outlet for which she had written.
Kittleson, who is currently based in Rome, Italy, has spent years reporting from war zones in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
Footage from local outlets shared on X reportedly shows Kittleson being bundled into the back of a car by armed men after they stopped her at a busy intersection in Baghdad.
News reports say she was snatched near the Baghdad Hotel, a stone’s throw from the heavily-militarized Green Zone.
Authorities intercepted a vehicle believed to belong to Kittleson’s abductors that flipped over as they tried to flee, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said.
However, the freelance journalist was not in the vehicle, and her current whereabouts are unknown.
Trump administration sources have confirmed that they were aware of the threat against Kittleson and had advised her against traveling to Iraq, Al-Monitor reported.
The State Department is working with Iraqi authorities to try to secure her release, a US official told the outlet.
No further details have been released by Kittleson’s abductors, and no ransom demands have been made public.
