Winks Blog

American Reporter Released

Good Morning,

BAGHDAD, Iraq - American reporter Jill Carroll was set free Thursday, nearly three months after she was kidnapped in a bloody ambush that killed her translator. She said she had been treated well.

Carroll, 28, was dropped off near offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party. She walked inside, and people there called American officials, Iraqi police said.

"I was treated well, but I don't know why I was kidnapped," Carroll said in a brief interview on Baghdad television.

Her family thanked "the generous people around the world who worked officially or unofficially" to gain her freedom. Her father, Jim, told CNN he was asleep in his North Carolina home when the phone rang at about 6 a.m.

"Hi, Dad. This is Jill. I'm released," the voice on the other end said.

No details were given about the circumstances surrounding her release. The U.S. ambassador said there was no ransom paid by the American embassy, but his remarks left open the question of whether "arrangements" were made by others.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said the U.S. military was not involved in Carroll's release.

Reporters Without Borders said at 86 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq and 39 others have been kidnapped since the war started in 2003. Three Iraqi reporters currently are held hostage.

Have a nice day.

posted by Wink @ 10:07 AM