REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
The US Embassy in Baghdad.
Three Americans contractors have been kidnapped by "militias" in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the pan-Arab news channel Al Arabiya reported on Sunday, citing its own sources.
The Americans went missing two days ago, said a senior security official in Baghdad, CNN reports.
"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," said the official to CNN.
The US government has confirmed reports that "several" US citizens have gone missing in Iraq, according to the Associated Press. The US is working with Iraqi authorities to find them, a US State Department official said on Sunday.
"We are aware of reports that American citizens are missing in Iraq," the State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said when asked about pan-Arab news channel Al Arabiya's report that three US citizens were said to have been kidnapped in Baghdad. "We are working with the full cooperation of the Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the individuals."
We are reporting on Al Arabiya according to well informed sources that 3 #Americans have been kidnapped in #Baghdad by Militia members.
- Talal Al-Haj (@TalalAlhaj) January 17, 2016The reported kidnapping comes just a week after a wave of ISIS-claimed terror attacks left at least 38 dead and many wounded in Baghdad on January 11.