Baghdad: An American citizen working for a non-governmental relief organization was killed after being shot in the Karrada neighborhood of Baghdad, after a failed attempt to kidnap him, local media reported.
Stephen Edward Troell was shot by a bullet while he was driving through the Karrada area on the eastern bank of the Tigris River on Monday night.
Immediately after the incident, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Sabbar al-Sudani, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, ordered an investigation into the killing.
The Security Media Cell said in a statement on Tuesday, that Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Sabbar al-Sudani directed the Minister of Interior, Abdul Amir al-Shammari, to form an investigation committee from the competent ministry agencies and other security authorities, to investigate the circumstances of the killing of an American citizen in the capital, Baghdad.
“According to our initial investigations and eyewitnesses, gunmen tried to kidnap the American citizen,” a major in the Iraqi police was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
After the shooting, the Iraqi police leaked the identity cards of the American dead. An identification card showed that he works as an English teacher.
The Texas-based Millennium Relief and Development Services said one of its American workers was killed in Baghdad late on Monday.
“We are greatly saddened by the tragedy that took the life of our colleague, near his home in Baghdad, Iraq,” Millennium said. “An investigation is ongoing and details on the assailants and the motivation for the attack are not known at this time.”
The circumstances of the incident, or the motives of the perpetrators, were not immediately known. No one has claimed responsibility so far.
Rare attacks
It is noteworthy that such attacks on individuals in the Iraqi capital are rare since the defeat of ISIS in 2017, but sometimes missiles are fired at the US embassy.
The coalition forces led by Washington recently ended their combat mission in Iraq, but they continue to play an advisory role for the Iraqi forces in their battle against ISIS.
