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Jill Carroll, 28, went to the Middle East in 2002 after being laid off from a newspaper job, fulfilling a long-held dream of covering a war.

On Jan.

7, while going to interview Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi, Carroll was kidnapped in Baghdad's western Adil neighborhood.

Her translator was killed in the attack about 300 yards from al-Dulaimi's office.

Her captors, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq by Feb.

26 and said Carroll would be killed if that didn't happen.

The date came and went with no word about her welfare.

On Thursday, she was finally free.

Carroll was handed over to the Iraqi Islamic Party office in Amiriya, western Baghdad, by an unknown group and then turned over to the Americans.

She was believed to be in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

"I'm just happy to be free," she said.

"I w...

"We want to thank all that have supported and prayed for her.

We want to especially thank The Christian Science Monitor, who did so much work to keep her image alive in Iraq." During Carroll's months in captivity, she had appeared twice in videos broadcast on Arab television, pleading for her life.

Her captors had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq by Feb.

26 and said Carroll would be killed if that did not happen.

The date came and went with no word about her fate.

On Feb.

28, Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said Carroll was being held by the Islamic Army in Iraq, the insurgent group that freed two French journalists in 2004 after four months in captivity.

She was last seen in a videotape broadcast Feb.

9 by the private Kuwaiti television station Al-Rai.

Her twin sister, Katie, issued a plea for her release on Al-Arabiya television late Wednesday.

Carrol...

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