Iraqi security hunt for missing Americans
Iraq police confirm 3 US citizens missing
Iraqi security hunt for missing Americans
Iraqi
security forces have set up checkpoints in southeast Baghdad and sent
out helicopter search parties after confirming three US citizens had
gone missing.
Media reported three US contractors or trainers had
been kidnapped with their translator in the Dora neighbourhood on
Friday. But a senior police officer said authorities were still not
certain what had caused their disappearance.
Two Iraqi army helicopters were seen hovering over Dora while police 4WDs patrolled the streets, residents said.
The
predominantly Sunni Muslim district was a bastion of the insurgency
against the 2003 US invasion and the site of intense sectarian
bloodletting that peaked around 2006-07.
Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias, seen as a bulwark in the fight against Islamic State, also have a presence in the area.
And
the capital of Iraq, OPEC's second biggest oil exporter, has also seen a
proliferation in recent years of well-armed criminal gangs that carry
out contract killings, kidnappings and extortion.
Dubai-based news
channel Al Arabiya said on Sunday that three US nationals had been
kidnapped with their translator. Citing its own sources, it said the
Americans were "contractors or trainers" employed by US companies at
Baghdad airport.
The US State Department said on Sunday it was
working with Iraqi authorities to locate Americans reported missing,
without confirming that they had been kidnapped.
"We have no clear
indication about the circumstances of their disappearance," a senior
police officer said on condition of anonymity.
The Iraqi
government has struggled to rein in Shi'ite militias, many of which
fought the US military following the 2003 invasion and are accused of
killing and abducting American nationals.
Iraq has witnessed a
series of abductions of foreign nationals in recent months. At least 26
Qatari hunters kidnapped last month in the southern desert by unknown
militants have not yet been found.
In September, 18 Turks taken in
Baghdad by an armed group that used a familiar Shi'ite Muslim slogan
were released following several weeks in detention.
The radical
Sunni militants of Islamic State have maintained a limited presence in
Baghdad, regularly claiming bomb attacks against Shi'ite neighbourhoods.
Originally published as Iraqi security hunt for missing Americans
