3 AMERICANS ABDUCTED IN IRAQ -FREED
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The same day that the nuclear deal with Iran became valid, on Sunday 01/17/2016, the sanctions on Iran were lifted and America celebrated the release of last 5 Americans held in Iran, practically as hostages, US confirmed that 3 Americans were abducted in Baghdad, Another American – Ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson disappeared in mysterious circumstances in 03/ 2007 during a visit to the Iranian island of Kish and his whereabouts or fate is still unclear ..
The US embassy in Baghdad has confirmed, on Sunday 01/17/2016 night, that “several” Americans have been kidnapped there. “We are working with the full co-operation 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 , USA officials did not say how many were held or where they were seized but other sources said the abduction took place in Dora neighborhood. By 2010 Dora had become a predominantly Sunni neighbourhood with Assyrians being reduced to small enclaves. Attacks in recent years have forced more and more families to leave the area.
Arab news channel Al-Arabiya reported that three contractors had been kidnapped by a ‘local militia’ pointing a finger to the Shia community.
An official in Baghdad told CNN three contractors went missing already from Friday 01/15/2016.
“A company filed a report Sunday about three of its staff going missing. It would be a major blow to hopes for stability and progress in Iraq.
An attack on a Baghdad shopping centre 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.
* The kidnapping occurred, an Iraqi security official said on Monday 01/18/2016, after the Americans were invited into the home of their interpreter in Dora neighborhood. The individuals were then taken to Sadr city, the official said, “after (the kidnapping) all communications and contact stopped in Sadr city.” Sadr City. in North-Eastern Baghdad, is inhabited almost solely by Shiites and totally controlled by pro-Iranian Militias. It seems reasonable that the abduction was a response to American new sanctions imposed by President Obama on the long range Iranian missiles programme – unrelated directly to the Nuclear Deal and its implementation .
* According to other sources the 3 Americans were kidnapped from a “suspicious apartment”, a term used for places where women and alcohol are available.
* According to Iskandar Witwit, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense panel. the three Americans had been taken from the district’s Sihha residential complex. Two of the three also had Iraqi citizenship (from Iraqi descent), he said.
The three men, all American citizens, work for a small company that is doing maintenance work for the information technology division of General Dynamics Corp, under a larger contract with the U.S. Army, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The names of the two men are Wael al-Mahdawi and Amro Mohammed, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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** On Tuesday 01/12/2016 gulf time Iran seized 2 small US Navy boats, with 10 sailors on boards, on a patrol mission from Kuwait to Bahrain, near the Iranian claimed Farsi Island just in the middle of the Arabian/Iranian Gulf .
*** The 3 Americans have been freed, on Tuesday 02/16/2016, and handed over to the US embassy, US and Iraqi officials said. All three men were said to be in good health.
It is not yet clear who was behind the abduction, but officials suspect it was an Iranian-backed Shia militia.
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Related topics ;
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01/2016 – RUSSIA TO STAY IN SYRIA ‘INDEFINITELY’
10/2015 – OBAMA CONSIDERS TO STAY IN THE AFGHAN MAD
10/2015 – THE SYRIAN WAR TURNS GLOBAL
07/2015 – THE IRANIAN NUCLEAR DEAL WITH THE WORLD
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