IRAQ: US reporter Jill Carroll, who was kidnapped three months ago in a bloody ambush that killed her translator, was set free on a Baghdad street yesterday and said she had not been harmed.
"I was treated well, but I don't know why I was kidnapped," Ms Carroll said in a brief interview with Baghdad television, which is operated by the Iraqi Islamic Party.
Ms Carroll (28), a freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped on January 7th in Baghdad while going to interview Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi.
Police said Ms Carroll was released on the street near an Islamic Party office.
A member of the party said Ms Carroll walked into a branch office "and introduced herself and gave us a written letter in Arabic that asked the Islamic Party help her". She was then transferred to the party's headquarters, where she was handed over to US diplomats.
US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said: "She is safe, she is free and she appears in good health and great spirits. We're going to help her get home as soon as possible." Mr Khalilzad said none of the hostage takers had been captured and no ransom was paid by the US embassy.
Ms Carroll said she received "very good treatment. I was kept in a safe room, nice furniture", adding she was given clothing, "plenty of food. I was allowed to take showers, go to the bathroom. [ They] never hit me, never even threatened to hit me.
"It was difficult because I didn't know what would happen."
Standing on the porch of his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, her father Jim Carroll expressed his joy.
"Obviously we are thrilled and relieved that she has been released," he said.
"We want to thank all that have supported and prayed for her."
At his daughter's alma mater, the University of Massachusetts, word spread quickly through the faculty. "It's a tremendous day. We've been hoping for this day for three months," said Norm Sims, Ms Carroll's former journalism professor.
"The journalism faculty has been calling each other on the phone. A lot of us were Jill's friends and professors."
At the end of the interview with Baghdad television, Tariq al-Hashemi, head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, presented Ms Carroll with a copy of the Koran in what appeared to be a jewelled cover. Ms Carroll said she had been allowed to watch television on one occasion, but that was not sufficient for her to have a good idea of the news about her. Her captors allowed her to read a newspaper. She referred to them as "mujahideen."
In Germany, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "This is something that people across the world have worked for and prayed for and I think we are all very pleased and happy to hear of her release."
"She was released this morning, she's talked to her father and she's fine," said David Cook, a Christian Science Monitor editor in Washington.
Her captors, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq by February 26th and said Ms Carroll would be killed if that didn't happen. The date came and went with no word about her welfare.
Ms Carroll's twin, Katie, said in a statement read on the Al-Arabiya network on Wednesday: "I've been living a nightmare, worrying if she is hurt or ill." She is the fourth Western hostage to be freed in eight days.