Kataib Hezbollah say they will release abducted US journalist Shelly Kittleson

Iraqi militia group Kataib Hezbollah said on Tuesday that it would release abducted American journalist Shelly Kittleson, following efforts by Iraqi and US authorities to search for the freelancer after she was kidnapped in Baghdad on 31 March.

On Monday, Iraqi sources told The Washington Post they believed Kittleson to be alive and held by Kataib Hezbollah in an apparent attempt to halt US strikes on the Iran-backed group’s stronghold.

The report added that her condition was not known.

Following her abduction from near her residence on Baghdad’s Saadoun Street, the sources suggested she was taken by gunmen affiliated with the group and transferred to a location in Jurf al-Sakhar, some 40 miles south of Baghdad.

The small town in Iraq’s Babylon Governorate is believed to be the stronghold of Kataib Hezbollah, and has been subjected to frequent US airstrikes from the onset of the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Kataib Hezbollah is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), which has, on multiple occasions over the past month, issued statements confirming that airstrikes targeted their bases in areas south of Baghdad, including Jurf al-Sakhar, also known as Jurf al-Nasr.

Since Kittleson’s abduction over a week ago, strikes on the location have stopped, with the sources who spoke to WaPo suggesting the group may be holding the journalist in that location to prevent US strikes on their bases.

The FBI declined to comment on the WaPo report on Monday.

The agency’s Washington Field Office and multiagency Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell have been conducting efforts to secure Kittleson’s release with assistance from the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

The abduction of Kittleson, who is based in Rome, has also triggered a response from Italian authorities, with foreign minister Antonio Tajani saying he was in contact with Iraqi officials over her case.

Representatives from Kataib Hezbollah reportedly offered to negotiate with the Iraqi government over the journalist’s release in exchange for several detained militia members, according to a report in The New York Times on Wednesday.