January 2006
Jill Carroll's Abduction
"I sent you a letter written by my hand that you wanted more evidence so we're sending you this new letter now just to prove that I am with the mujahideen. I'm here, I'm fine. Please, just do whatever they want, give them whatever they want as quickly as possible. There is very short time; please do it fast. That's all."
—Jill Carroll in the third of four hostage videos put out by her captors
On January 7, Jill Carroll, a 28-year-old freelance journalist working for The Christian Science Monitor, is abducted during a reporting trip to the Adel district of Baghdad. Her interpreter, Alan Enwiyah, is killed during the ambush, and a search quickly ensues, with governments worldwide demanding Carroll's release. After she appears in three videos and the U.S. releases five female Iraqi prisoners (while insisting that the prisoner releases are unrelated to the demands of Carroll's captors), Carroll is freed and turns up unharmed near the offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party on March 30. According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 153 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the invasion of Iraq.