US journalist kidnapped in Baghdad and security forces hunt captors, Iraqi officials say

An American journalist was kidnapped Tuesday in Baghdad and Iraqi security forces are pursuing her captors, Iraqi officials said.

The Iraqi interior ministry said in a statement that a foreign journalist had been kidnapped, without giving more details about the journalist.

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 was a woman with U.S. citizenship.

They said that two cars were involved in the kidnapping, one of which crashed and was apprehended while being pursued by authorities near the town of Al-Haswa in Babil province southwest of Baghdad, and the journalist was transferred to a second car that fled the scene.

The interior ministry said that security forces had launched an operation to track down the kidnappers, “acting on precise intelligence and through intensive field operations” after intercepting a vehicle belonging to the kidnappers that overturned as they tried to flee.

Read more: The Hill