Iraqi female journalist abducted from Baghdad home

By Haydar Hadi

BAGHDAD

Unidentified gunmen abducted a female journalist from her Baghdad home late Monday, according to local security sources.

Afrah Shawki was abducted at about midnight local time from her home in Baghdad’s southern Saidiya district, a local police officer, who spoke anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to media, told Anadolu Agency.

Shawki works for Asharq al-Awsat, a London-based, Arabic-language daily newspaper.

According to local police sources, money and gold were also taken from Shawki’s home.

As of midday Tuesday, no group had yet claimed responsibility for the incident.

Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has ordered an urgent investigation into the journalist’s abduction, according to a statement released by his office.

A report issued Monday by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate states that 455 Iraqi journalists have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003.

At least 20 journalists were killed this year alone, mostly by the Daesh terrorist group in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province (of which Mosul is the regional capital), according to the report's findings.