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An American journalist kidnapped in Baghdad last week is free. Shelly Kittleson is a freelance reporter. The U.S. State Department says an Iran-backed militia released her. NPR's Jane Arraf has this report.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Kittleson was abducted last Tuesday while standing on a street corner in Central Baghdad. Security camera footage shows a group of men pulling up in a car and shoving her into the back seat. The group that took her was Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed militia in Iraq, involved in attacks that have included the U.S. military and embassy. Iraqi security forces lost the car as it drove south into an area controlled by the militia, which has been hit hard by U.S. strikes since the Iran war began. The group said Kittleson's release was a gesture of appreciation to the Iraqi prime minister. It didn't give details, and the prime minister hasn't commented, but an Iraqi security source said last week the militia was demanding that several of its detained members be freed. He asked not to be identified because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly. The state department said last week it had warned Kittleson that she could be targeted. Kataib Hezbollah previously kidnapped Israeli Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov from Baghdad. Like most Iran-backed groups, it wants the U.S. to leave Iraq.
The Princeton student was freed after U.S. intervention, following more than two years in captivity. Kittleson, who's 49, has covered Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan since 2010. Her work has appeared in Foreign Policy, POLITICO, Al-Monitor, and an Italian newspaper, as well as the BBC. As a freelancer, she often worked in conflict zones without much money or support. In an interview on war reporting with Imperial War Museums in the U.K., she said this.
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SHELLY KITTLESON: Unfortunately, as a freelancer, I really can't afford a flak jacket a lot of times. I can borrow, I rent them if I can.
ARRAF: Kittleson had been turned away by Iraqi border guards when she tried to enter from Turkey earlier in March. They told her as a foreign journalist, she was not allowed to cross. She was determined to get to Baghdad and ended up going by land to Iraq from Jordan.
Jane Arraf, NPR News, Oman.
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