--- description: Federal officials are working to find Americans missing in Iraq after local media reports say at least three have been kidnapped in Baghdad title: Several Americans Missing In Iraq, U.S. Embassy Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Iraq](/tag/iraq/) ## Iraq Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Several Americans Missing In Iraq, U.S. Embassy Says  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 17, 2016 9:55 PM CUT  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 17, 2016 9:55 PM CUT Officials are working to find several [Americans missing in Iraq](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/292fee031fd04e9a84850abb3eb02dac/us-embassy-says-several-americans-missing-iraq "undefined") after local media reported that at least three U.S. citizens have been kidnapped in Baghdad. The Americans are missing from the Iraqi capital, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad told the Associated Press. The State Department confirmed it is “working with the full cooperation of the Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the individuals” but did not offer additional details. “We are aware of reports that American citizens are missing in Iraq,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told TIME in a statement Sunday. “The safety and security of American citizens overseas is our highest priority.‎” The Arab news channel, al-Arabiya, [broke the news](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/three-americans-reportedly-kidnapped-baghdad-n498351?cid=sm%5Ftw&hootPostID=885dbe9be2c127dcecbbbcbbe9c7b87c "undefined") of the suspected kidnapping by militants in Baghdad, citing its own anonymous sources, according to NBC News. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4183890/missing-americans-iraq-kidnap/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4183890/missing-americans-iraq-kidnap/"},"headline":"Several Americans Missing In Iraq, U.S. Embassy Says","datePublished":"2016-01-17T21:55:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:06:41.329Z","description":"Local media reported that at least three Americans were kidnapped","url":"https://time.com/4183890/missing-americans-iraq-kidnap/","keywords":["Iraq"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iraq/","name":"Iraq"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4183890/missing-americans-iraq-kidnap/","name":"Several Americans Missing In Iraq, U.S. Embassy Says"}}]}] ```