World | Tue Jan 19, 2016 4:21pm EST

Americans missing in Baghdad kidnapped by Iran-backed militia: Iraqi, U.S. sources

WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD | BY MARK HOSENBALL, LESLEY WROUGHTON AND STEPHEN KALIN

Three U.S. citizens who disappeared last week in Baghdad were kidnapped and are being held by an Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia, two Iraqi intelligence and two U.S. government sources said on Tuesday.

Unknown gunmen seized the three on Friday from a private residence in the southeastern Dora district of Baghdad, Iraqi officials say. They are the first Americans to be abducted in Iraq since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011.

The U.S. sources said Washington had no reason to believe Tehran was involved in the kidnapping and did not believe the trio were being held in Iran, which borders Iraq.

"They were abducted because they are Americans, not for personal or financial reasons," one of the Iraqi sources in Baghdad said.

The three men are employed by a small company that is doing work for General Dynamics Corp (GD.N), under a larger contract with the U.S. Army, according to a source familiar with the matter.

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