Related: Search under way as Carroll captors' deadline passes

An undated photo of US journalist Jill Carroll. (Reuters photo)

    BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- The Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr says he believes that kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll remains alive and will be recovered safely.

    In an interview with ABC television, Jabr said he knew who arranged Ms. Carroll's abduction. "We know his name and address, and we are following up on him as well as the Americans," he said. "I think she is still alive."

    U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told Fox television he had heard the same news from Jabr.

    "The Ministry of Interior said that she is alive and that they have information with regard to where she might be held," Khalilzad said in an interview with Fox News.

    "The minister announced today that he is optimistic about her release," he said.

    The U.S. ambassador did not say how the Interior Ministry knew about Carroll's well-being.

    On Saturday night, Iraqi forces said they raided homes looking for Carroll but without results. Wide-ranging efforts - by US and Iraqi officials, as well as local media - to secure her release continue.

    An apparent deadline set by kidnappers holding Carroll in Iraq passed Sunday with no word.

    Carroll was last seen in a videotape broadcast Feb. 9 by the private Kuwaiti television station Al-Rai. Enditem

(Agencies)