US paper names abducted reporter

Jill Carroll has been reporting in the Middle East for the past three years

A US journalist kidnapped in Baghdad at the weekend has been named as Jill Carroll, who was reporting for the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor.

The paper has said it is pursuing every avenue to secure her safe release.

Ms Carroll was going to meet the leader of a Sunni coalition party in Baghdad's western Adel district when she was seized and her translator fatally hurt.

Iraqi police say they are searching for Ms Carroll. Several Westerners are currently being held hostage in Iraq.

The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Baghdad says the Adel district is one of the city's most dangerous, where three Iraqi television journalists were recently killed.

Body found

Ms Carroll, 28, had been reporting from the Middle East for Jordanian, Italian and other media organisations for the past three years, the Christian Science Monitor said in a statement.

She and her translator were on their way to meet Adnan al Dulaimi, the head of a prominent Sunni coalition, when they were ambushed.

The newspaper quotes the journalist's driver, who survived the attack, saying gunmen stopped the car, dragged him out and drove off with Ms Carroll and her translator.

The body of the interpreter was recovered that day, along with identity papers. He has been named by the newspaper as Allan Enwiyah, 32.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the abduction.

Monitor editor Richard Bergenheim said: "We are urgently seeking information about Ms Carroll and are pursuing every avenue to secure her release."

The newspaper said it had "tapped into her professionalism, energy and fair reporting on the Iraqi scene" in recent months and praised her determination in seeking accurate views from Iraqi political leaders.

The Monitor describes itself as a non-religious newspaper, published as a public service.

Four Christian peace activists, including a Briton, an American and two Canadians, are being held hostage in Iraq.

A French engineer, Bernard Planche, managed to escape his captors at the weekend after being kidnapped in Baghdad in December.