An Iraqi official revealed on Wednesday that an American journalist, who was recently abducted in Baghdad, had attempted to cross from Syria into Iraq three weeks prior but was initially denied entry.
According to US and Iraqi authorities, Shelly Renee Kittleson had been cautioned about potential threats against her in the days leading up to her kidnapping.
Kittleson, a seasoned freelance journalist with extensive experience in Iraq and Syria, was well-regarded for her deep understanding of the region and its communities. She was abducted from a street in Baghdad on Tuesday and remains unaccounted for.
Hussein Alawi, an adviser to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, stated that Kittleson attempted to enter Iraq through the al-Qaim crossing from Syria on March 9. However, she was turned away due to lacking a press work permit and heightened security concerns stemming from “the escalation of the war and aerial projectiles over Iraqi airspace resulting from the conflict with Iran.”
Eventually, she managed to enter Iraq after securing a single-entry visa valid for 60 days, designed to assist foreign nationals stranded in neighboring countries to transit through Iraq on their way home, Alawi explained.
Kittleson arrived in Baghdad just a few days before her abduction and was residing in a hotel in the city at the time, according to Alawi.
“The incident is being followed closely by Iraqi security and intelligence agencies under the supervision of al-Sudani, Alawi said. He noted that one suspect believed to be involved in the kidnapping plot has been arrested and is being interrogated.
Iraqi security forces gave chase to her captors and arrested one suspect after the car he was driving crashed, but other kidnappers were able to escape with the journalist in a second car.
An Iraqi intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said Iraqi authorities believe she is being held in Baghdad and are trying to locate her and secure her release. He said authorities “have information about the abducting party” but declined to give more details.
US officials have alleged that Kittleson was taken by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-linked Iraqi militia that has been implicated in previous kidnappings of foreigners. The group has not claimed the kidnapping and the Iraqi government has not publicly said anything about the kidnappers’ affiliation.
The Iraqi intelligence official said that prior to Kittleson’s abduction, Iraqis had contacted US officials to notify them that there was a specific kidnapping threat against her by Iran-affiliated militias.
Dylan Johnson, US assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said on X Tuesday that the “State Department previously fulfilled our duty to warn this individual of threats against them.”
A US official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said, “She was contacted multiple times with warnings of the threats against her,” including as late as the night before the kidnapping.
Kittleson’s mother, 72-year-old Barb Kittleson, who spoke to The Associated Press at her home in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, said she heard about the kidnapping from a news report on Tuesday and was visited by the FBI at her house on Tuesday night.
When asked how she felt about the kidnapping she said, “Terrible. Scared. I’ll pray for her.”
Barb Kittleson said she last exchanged emails with her daughter on Monday. Shelly Kittleson sent photos of herself from Iraq, her mother said.
“Journalism is what she wanted to do so bad,” Barb Kittleson said. “I wanted her to come home and not do it, but she said, ‘I’m helping people.’”
Surveillance footage from Baghdad that was obtained by the AP shows what seems to be the moment the journalist was kidnapped.
It shows two men approaching a person standing on a street corner and ushering the person into the back of a car. There appears to be a brief struggle to shut the car door before the men get into the vehicle and it drives away.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq have launched regular attacks on US facilities in the country since the beginning of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
