Iraq: Gunmen snatch female journalist from her Baghdad home

Iraq's Interior Ministry says unidentified gunmen have broken into the house of a female journalist and activist in Baghdad and kidnapped her.

Today's statement didn't give details on the circumstances surrounding the abduction of Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi from her house late last night in Baghdad' southwestern Saydiyah neighborhood.

Al-Qaisi, a veteran journalist and an employee of the Iraqi Culture Ministry, is considered one of the critics of the country's endemic corruption.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the security forces to investigate the kidnapping and to "exert the utmost effort" to save her.

War-torn Iraq is considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, who have been frequently targeted by militant groups since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.