American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped from a Baghdad street corner last week, was freed on Tuesday, a senior administration official confirmed to Fox News.
US officials worked with the Iraqi government to secure her release, according to the report.
Earlier, the powerful Iran-backed Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah said in a statement that it will release Kittleson.
The group said its decision came “in appreciation of the patriotic stances of the outgoing prime minister", Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, without giving more details. It added that “this initiative will not be repeated in the future".
Kataib Hezbollah had not previously acknowledged that it was the one responsible for Kittleson’s abduction, although both US and Iraqi officials had pointed fingers at the group.
Kittleson, 49, a freelance journalist, had lived abroad for years before the kidnapping, using Rome as her base for a time and building a respected journalism career across the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
She had entered Iraq again shortly before her abduction. US officials have said that they warned her multiple times of threats against her, but that she did not want to leave.
Iraqi officials have said that two cars were involved in the kidnapping, one of which crashed while being pursued near the town of al-Haswa in Babil province, southwest of Baghdad. The journalist was then transferred to a second car that fled the scene.
Three Iraqi officials said earlier Tuesday that attempts to negotiate her release had run into obstacles.
A political official said a message had been sent to the Kataib leadership to determine their demands in exchange for releasing the kidnapped journalist. Iraqi authorities are willing to release six Kataib Hezbollah members who are currently detained, most of them in connection with attacks on a US base in Syria, they said, but the armed group has not yet communicated its demands clearly.
A second security official said that to further complicate matters, the Iraqi official in charge of the case has not yet received the go-ahead from US officials to proceed with negotiations.
US officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The State Department previously said that it is working with the FBI to secure Kittleson's release.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of the Seventh Day of Passover in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)