[skcin]

Wonderful news. I wonder what prompted them to let her go?

'Wonderful day': Journalist Carroll freed in Iraq
'They never threatened me in any way'

Thursday, March 30, 2006; Posted: 10:11 a.m. EST (15:11 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- American hostage Jill Carroll, a freelance journalist released Thursday in Iraq after nearly three months in captivity, said she was "treated very well" while she was held.

"They never said they would hit me. They never threatened me in any way," she said in a TV interview after her release.

The interview was broadcast by Baghdad Television, a station owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party. It was conducted inside the headquarters of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni group.

Wearing glasses and a hijab scarf, she said, "They allowed me once to see TV. They also allowed me once to read the paper but it wasn't enough to know what's going on in the outside world."

Throughout her ordeal, she said, "I was allowed to move in a small space."

Carroll, 28, also said that she didn't know exactly where she was held, because the room she was in had a frosted window.

She surfaced after being dropped off near the Iraqi Islamic Party offices in Baghdad, The Associated Press reported. Carroll then walked inside, where people called U.S. officials, Iraqi police told AP.

Carroll said she didn't know how she regained her freedom. "They just came to me this morning and told me they will release me."

President Bush, traveling in Mexico for a North American summit, told reporters he was pleased.

"I'm really grateful she was released and thank those who worked hard for her release, and we're glad she's alive," Bush said.

Carroll is now at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, according to a source at the Christian Science Monitor, the newspaper she was working for when she was abducted on January 7.

'Hi, Dad. This is Jill. I'm released'
Her father Jim Carroll said he was asleep at his home in North Carolina when the telephone rang at about 6 a.m. The voice on the other end of the line said simply, "Hi Dad. This is Jill. I'm released."

Carroll said he first saw images of his daughter in video aired on CNN and said he and his family are "thrilled and relieved that Jill has been released unharmed."

A written statement from the family thanked "all of the generous people around the world who worked officially or unofficially, especially those who took personal risks, to gain Jill's release."

"Our priority now, of course, is helping Jill to recover from her ordeal. We ask that the media respect our privacy and desire to focus on Jill's well-being. When we feel the time is appropriate, we will release more details about her experience."

'A good day'
Speaking to reporters in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said Carroll "is safe, she is free and she appears in good health and in great spirits."

"This is a good day," he said.

"We're going to work as hard as we can to help her get home as soon as possible."

David Cook, Washington bureau chief of the Monitor, was among the first to react to Thursday's news. "This is a wonderful day," he said.

Natasha Tynes, a fellow journalist who has worked with Carroll, welcomed the news about her friend.

"Finally, our prayers have been answered," Tynes said.

"The fact that she's released now is the best news, and I know that it might be hard for her now after what she went through, but with her personality -- and she's someone who's easygoing and someone who can adapt to changes -- I'm sure she can get over what happened to her and I'm sure she can lead a very normal and happy life."

I know that it might be hard for her now after what she went through, but with her personality ... I'm sure she can get over what happened to her and I'm sure she can lead a very normal and happy life.
-- Natasha Tynes, friendJean-Baptiste Demestoy, British representative of Reporters Without Borders, the journalism advocacy group that worked to mobilize support for Carroll, said, "We're really glad about this."

Carroll's release came a day after her twin sister, Katie Carroll, publicly pleaded for her captors to let her go. (Watch Jill Carroll's sister plead for her release -- 1:48)

Carroll's abductors, a group calling itself Brigades of Vengeance, had said they would kill her if the United States did not release all women it has detained in Iraq.

The Boston, Massachusetts-based Monitor said it was doing everything it could to win Carroll's release, including producing TV announcements that aired on Iraqi TV.

The journalist's case moved Muslims and non-Muslims around the world to call for her freedom.

Carroll's release also comes a week after U.S.-led coalition troops in Baghdad freed three Western hostages from the aid group Christian Peacemaker Teams who had been held hostage for nearly four months. (Full story)

On January 7, Carroll, who has been reporting from the Middle East for three years, was planning to meet with Iraqi politician Adnan al-Dulaimi for an interview in Baghdad, but he was not there, according to the Monitor, which later interviewed her driver.

As Carroll, her driver and an interpreter attempted to leave, their vehicle was stopped by the insurgents, the paper reported. (Full story)

The driver escaped the abduction unharmed.

The interpreter, Allan Enwiyah, 32, was found dead nearby, shot twice in the head, the newspaper said, citing law enforcement officials.

Other kidnapped journalists
Lynn Tehini, head of the Middle East and North African desk of Reporters Without Borders in Paris, France, said three journalists -- all Iraqis -- remain captive and the group will continue to work for their freedom.

They are Ali Abdullah Fayad of the triweekly al Safir, who was kidnapped by an unknown group in Kut, southeast of Baghdad, on March 21; and TV reporter Reem Zeid and her colleague, Marwan Khazaal, with Iraqi station Al-Sumariya.

Zeid and Khazaal were kidnapped by four gunmen after leaving a news conference at the headquarters of the Iraqi Islamic Party in Baghdad on February 1.

CNN's Susan Garraty, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Nic Robertson, Auday Sadik, Mike Mount, Joe Sterling, Jason Carroll and Deb Krajnak contributed to this report.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.