American journalist Shelly Kittleson has been released, says Iraqi official

Baghdad: American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped in Baghdad last week, has been released, an Iraqi official with direct knowledge of the situation said on Tuesday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly, said Kittleson was freed in the afternoon.

He did not share her current whereabouts but said that prior to her release, she had been held in Baghdad.

The powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah said in a statement earlier in the day that it had decided to free the journalist, and officials with the militia told The Associated Press that members of the group previously detained by Iraqi authorities would be released in exchange.

Kittleson, 49, a freelance journalist, had lived abroad for years before the kidnapping, using Rome as her base for a time and building a respected journalism career across the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria.