Iraqi forces hunt for kidnapped Americans

Iraqi security forces on Monday combed the Baghdad neighborhood where three Americans went missing over the weekend, kidnapped by gunmen after visiting their interpreter’s home, according to multiple reports.

{mosads}There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction, though the U.S. Embassy confirmed that “several” Americans had gone missing.

A police source in Baghdad identified the trio to The Washington Post as Amro Mohamed, Wael al-Mahdawi and Rusul Farad.

“We are working in full cooperation with Iraqi authorities to locate the missing Americans,” embassy spokesman Scott Bolz said.

The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria confirmed that the three were civilians. One Iraqi official said they worked as contractors at the Baghdad International Airport.

Sources on the ground in Baghdad said the apartment the Americans visited was a known brothel.

“They went to an inappropriate place,” Iraqi lawmaker Iskander Witwit told the Post. “Iraqi security forces are working very hard now to locate them.”

Police were closing streets and searching house-to-house in their efforts to find the missing three.