U.S. embassy confirms several Americans kidnapped in Iraq

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. embassy in Baghdad has confirmed that "several" Americans have been kidnapped there, BBC News reports.

"We are working with the full cooperation of the Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the individuals," said a state department official.

Unconfirmed reports from Iraqi security circles said three Americans and an Iraqi translator were seized on the southern side of Baghdad. But U.S. officials did not say how many were held or where they were seized.

An official in Baghdad told CNN three contractors went missing on Friday, Jan 15. "A company filed a report Sunday about three of its staff going missing two days ago. They are American contractors. We are looking into this report," the senior security official said.

"The safety and security of American citizens overseas is our highest priority," said U.S. State Department official John Kirby.

If it turns out to be a serious kidnapping, the BBC says, it would be a major blow to hopes for stability and progress in Iraq.

An attack on a Baghdad shopping center last week, claimed by so-called Islamic State militants, brought to an end a relative lull in violence that had seen no major bloodshed in the city in months.

Before U.S. forces pulled out of Iraq in 2011, a number of Western citizens were kidnapped and killed by radical Shia groups as well as Sunni militants, but none has been abducted since then.

Last month, a group of Qatari hunters, including members of the ruling family, was kidnapped in the Iraqi desert.

Since then, the BBC says, there has been no claim of responsibility and the fate of those kidnapped remains unknown - a sign of how secretive and complicated the negotiation process is.