An American journalist was kidnapped on Tuesday in Baghdad, Iraqi officials said. The journalist was identified as freelancer Shelly Kittleson by one of the outlets she worked for.
Kittleson grew up in Darlington, about two hours southwest of Milwaukee, and graduated from Darlington High School.
TMJ4 spoke with her mother, Barbara, who said the FBI had just been to her house and had promised they were looking into the reports.
Barbara said Shelly had messaged and sent her photos on Monday, and that she was fine at that time. She says she sent one photo of herself and another of herself with a man. Barbara says they usually email back and forth twice a week.
She says Shelly has been living in the Middle East, working as a journalist for about 20 years. Barbara says Shelly was able to teach herself different languages and has made many connections in the Middle East. She says Shelly was living in Damascus, Syria.
Barbara says Shelly is not married and doesn't have kids. She says Shelly is very kind and was an honors student at Darlington High School.
A U.S. official blamed the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah.
In a Facebook post Tuesday, the Iraqi interior ministry confirmed a foreign journalist had been kidnapped.
Two Iraqi security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said the kidnapped journalist is a woman and a U.S. citizen.
They said that two cars were involved in the kidnapping, one of which crashed while being pursued near the town of Al-Haswa in Babil province southwest of Baghdad. The journalist was then transferred to a second car that fled the scene.
Al-Monitor, a news organization that Kittleson contributes to, has published the following statement about her kidnapping:
"We are deeply alarmed by the kidnapping of Al-Monitor contributor Shelly Kittleson in Iraq on Tuesday. We call for her safe and immediate release. We stand by her vital reporting from the region and call for her swift return to continue her important work."
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin issued the following statement about the kidnapping:
“My heart goes out to the Kittleson family, and I am pushing the Trump administration to do everything in their power to bring Shelly home as soon as humanly possible. While we are still waiting for more details, we do know that President Trump’s illegal war in Iran has put Americans in the region in danger and it needs to come to an end.”
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