US officials seeking three Americans reportedly missing in Iraq

by sassy on Mon Jan 18, 2016 5:46 am

Search comes after pan-Arab news channel al-Arabiya reports three US citizens said to have been kidnapped in Baghdad

The US government is aware of reports that three American citizens have gone missing in Iraq and is working with Iraqi authorities to find them, a State Department official and a US embassy spokesman said on Sunday.
“We are aware of reports that American citizens are missing in Iraq,” the State official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said when asked about pan-Arab news channel al-Arabiya’s report that three US citizens were said to have been kidnapped in Baghdad.
“We are working with the full cooperation of the Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the individuals.”
In Baghdad, Scott Bolz, a spokesman for the US embassy in the Iraqi capital, said: “We are working in full cooperation with Iraqi authorities to locate the missing Americans.”
The incident comes after a week that has seen a deterioration of security in and around the Iraqi capital after months of relative calm.
The Islamic State group claimed a number of attacks in Baghdad and Diyala province last week that killed more than 50 people, including a high-profile attack on a mall in the Iraqi capital.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/17/iraq-three-americans-reportedly-missing

Latest reports seem to suggest that they are contractors.