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U.S. Muslims plead for release of journalist; 2 Marines killed

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BAGHDAD — Iraqi and U.S. officials said they were working to free an American journalist kidnapped off a Baghdad street a week ago but had not yet made contact with her captors.

Jill Carroll, a 28-year-old freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, has not been heard from since she was grabbed Jan. 7 in one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods. Gunmen ambushed her car and killed her translator shortly after she left the offices of a Sunni Arab politician.

The U.S. Embassy said it was working with local authorities "and doing everything possible to bring about her safe release."

An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said police were taking the matter "very seriously."

"We are doing our utmost to find her or reach her. The search continues," said Gen. Hussein Kamal, deputy interior minister in charge of domestic intelligence.

The Boston-based Christian Science Monitor said Saturday that it continued "to pursue every possible avenue" to win Carroll's release.

The U.S. military said Saturday that a Marine was killed Friday by small-arms fire during combat in the western town of Ramadi.

In addition Saturday, electoral officials said results from the Dec. 15 parliamentary vote could be certified by next week after repeated delays, opening the way for negotiations to formally get under way for the formation of a broad-based coalition government.

Senior Iraqi election official Safwat Rashid said certified results from Iraq's contested elections could be released within a week.

But he said that if any further complaints were received, it could take an additional 10 days to get final results.

The governing United Iraqi Alliance, a Shiite religious bloc, has a strong lead, according to preliminary results. But it won't win enough seats in the 275-member parliament to avoid forming a coalition with Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties.