Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says the three Americans that recently went missing in Baghdad were likely taken by "criminal gangs."
Speaking on Friday from Davos, Switzerland, where he has taken part in the World Economic Forum, Abadi said the government or relevant authorities have not faced a demand for the release of the three. He said they were most likely taken by “criminal gangs.”
He said the Iraqi government does not “know that they (Americans) have been kidnapped ... they are missing,” and security forces are searching for them.
There has been no claim of responsibility since the Americans disappeared last week in Dora neighborhood, south of the Iraqi capital. Officials in the US embassy in Iraq have claimed that an unspecified number of Americans are missing, saying work is underway to locate them.
Baghdad has only confirmed so far that the Americans were kidnapped from a “suspicious apartment” in Baghdad, providing no further details.
In similar remarks, Iraq’s defense minister said earlier Friday that the American nationals were ostensibly taken by an “organized gang” known for carrying out such measures for “blackmail.”
Khaled al-Obaidi said the criminals spotted the three Americans as they repeatedly visited the same place.
The three men were 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. Unconfirmed reports said that an Iraqi translator was also seized along with the American citizens.
