Israeli-Russian graduate student kidnapped in Iraq has been released, Trump and family say
By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON AP A Princeton University doctoral scholar who was kidnapped in Iraq in while doing research there has been freed and turned over to U S bureaucrats her family and President Donald Trump revealed Tuesday Elizabeth Tsurkov who holds Israeli and Russian citizenship spent more than days in custody after being kidnapped in March in Baghdad the Iraqi capital Related Articles Top US immigration official defends new rule targeting anti-American views in immigration benefits Police arrest -year-old boy with guns over school shooting threats Georgia judge to toss landmark racketeering charges against Cop City protesters Black McDonald s operators detail history of alleged racial discrimination in lawsuit Backpage executives to be sentenced after testifying against site founder about the site s sex ads In the past scant months functionaries from several countries including the Iraqi foreign minister and deputy prime minister have established she was alive and being held in Iraq by a Shiite Muslim militant group called Kataeb Hezbollah according to her sister The group has not claimed the kidnapping nor have Iraqi agents publicly disclosed which group is responsible My entire family is incredibly happy We cannot wait to see Elizabeth and give her all the love we have been waiting to share for days mentioned a message from her sister Emma in which she thanked among others Adam Boehler the U S special presidential envoy for hostage affairs Emma Tsurkov disclosed she lost contact with her sister in late March after Elizabeth went to meet sources in a coffee shop in Baghdad s central neighborhood of Karradah Elizabeth Tsurkov had back surgery eight days before her kidnapping for a slipped disc and was more vulnerable her sister reported She was supposed to get her stitches removed two days after her kidnapping and faced a long road of physical therapy back in Princeton New Jersey The only direct proof of life of Elizabeth Tsurkov during her captivity was a video broadcast in November on an Iraqi television station and circulated on pro-Iranian social media purporting to show her
