Iraqi Police Fail to Find Abducted U.S. Reporter

Iraqi police failed to find kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll during raids Sunday, as the deadline set for the United States to meet her captors’ demands passed with no word on her fate.

The 28-year-old freelancer working for the Christian Science Monitor was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad and was last seen in a videotape broadcast Feb. 9 by the private Kuwaiti television station Al Rai.

Station owner Jassem Boudai said then that the kidnappers had set Feb. 26 as the deadline for U.S. and Iraqi authorities to meet their demands or they would kill her.

The kidnappers, part of a formerly unknown group calling itself the Revenge Brigades, have publicly demanded the release of all female detainees in Iraq, but Boudai indicated that the group had provided more specific conditions that he refused to reveal.

On Sunday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said an extensive search was underway for Carroll.

“Our forces raided some suspected places, but she was not there,” Maj. Falah Mohammedawi said. “We are watching the situation closely.”

The Bush administration, Hamas and the Committee to Protect Journalists have called for Carroll’s release.

A woman who answered the phone Sunday morning at the home of Carroll’s mother said the family had no new information and politely declined to comment.

David Cook, the Monitor’s Washington bureau chief, also reserved comment. On Saturday, he said: “We know our journalistic colleagues will understand why we need to exercise great care in commenting on Jill’s situation.”