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Global

Iraqi police confirm three U.S. citizens missing in Baghdad


    BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi police confirmed on Monday that three U.S. nationals had been reported missing in Baghdad, and that it was investigating reports they were kidnapped.Iraqi security forces set up checkpoints early on Monday in the Dora neighbourhood southeast of Baghdad, where media reports have said three U.S. nationals were abducted on Friday, witnesses said.

    "We have no clear indication about the circumstances of their disappearance," a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity.

    Two Iraqi army helicopters were seen hovering over the district while police SUVs patrolled the streets.

    The U.S. State Department said on Sunday it was working with Iraqi authorities to locate Americans reported missing, without confirming that they had been kidnapped.

    Dubai-based news channel Al Arabiya reported on Sunday that three U.S. nationals had been kidnapped in Dora on Friday. Citing its own sources, it said the Americans were "contractors or trainers" employed by U.S. companies at the Baghdad airport.

    (Reporting by Saif Hameed and Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Andrew Heavens)