Gunmen kidnap female journalist from home in Baghdad

Unidentified gunmen kidnapped a female journalist and activist from her house in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred late on Monday night when masked armed men broke into the house of the journalist Afrah Shawqi in Saidiya district in southern Baghdad and abducted her, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The gunmen also stole Shawqi's personal jewels and her car, the source said.

The journalist is considered one of the critics of the country's corruption, and recently wrote an article which tackled the consequences of the proliferation of armed group outside the law.

On Tuesday morning, a statement from the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said that Abadi ordered the security forces to investigate the kidnapping and to "exert the utmost effort to save her life and to chase any that proved involved in the crime."

Iraq is considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, who have been frequently targeted by the chaos and insecurity since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Endit