Three Americans kidnapped in Baghdad released
Three Americans abducted in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad in January have been released, officials say.
The trio were set free on Tuesday and handed over to the US Embassy in Baghdad.
Unknown gunmen kidnapped them from a private apartment in the southeasterly Dora district in mid-January.
"The three Americans were released in an area near Yousifiya, south of Baghdad. Intelligence forces received them and will hand them over to the American authorities (in Baghdad)," an unnamed official in Iraq's Interior Ministry said.
The three men are reportedly employed by a contracting company that works for General Dynamics Corp., under a larger contract with the US Army. According to the CNN, the three were identified as two Iraqi-Americans and one Egyptian-American.
The US Department of State welcomed the release of the three and thanked the Iraqi government for its help in securing their return.
"We sincerely appreciate the assistance provided by the government of Iraq, and its whole-of-government effort to bring about the safe release of these individuals," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.
The men were the first American nationals to be kidnapped in Iraq since the withdrawal of American forces in 2011.
There was no claim of responsibility for the abduction.
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