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Several Americans Missing In Iraq

Iraqi security forces set up checkpoints early on Monday in the Dora neighbourhood southeast of Baghdad, where media reports have said three USA nationals were abducted on Friday, witnesses said. After they were abducted, they were taken to Sadr City, at which point the official said, “all communications and contact stopped”. The apartment was variously described as a “brothel” and as a place hosting “illicit parties” in various reports.

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The source said they don’t have details on the identity of the three Americans.

The United States and Iraq are working to find several missing Americans who were reportedly kidnapped in Baghdad.

He said that the trio were taken to the apartment by an Iraqi translator who owned the flat, adding that it was stormed by local militiamen.

But US officials did not say how many were held or where they were seized.

Last month, gunmen kidnapped more than two dozen Qataris who had come to southern Iraq to hunt.

Iranian-backed Shi’ite Muslim militia fighters, seen as a bulwark in the fight against Islamic State militants, have a heavy presence in that part of the predominately Sunni district.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has struggled to balance the power and popularity of Shiite militia groups with the government’s dependence on the U.S.-led coalition’s contributions to the fight against IS. The embassy didn’t identify them or say what they were doing in Iraq.

The U.S. Department of State said it was aware of the missing Americans.

Investigators were trying to determine whether the men had been lured to the brothel or the kidnapping was opportunistic, the Iraqi official said.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility in Baghdad. Kidnappings in Iraq have been carried out by Islamic State, Shia militias and criminal gangs often demanding ransom payments or seeking to resolve workplace disputes.

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The militias are suspected of kidnapping 17 Turkish construction workers from Baghdad past year, only to release them later, unharmed.

US 'trying to find Americans missing in Baghdad'