American Jill Carroll, who was kidnapped in Iraq three months ago, was set free Thursday. She said she had been treated well by her captors.

Carroll, a freelance journalist for The Christian Science Monitor, was reportedly dropped off at the offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party and then turned over to American officials.

In an interview with Baghdad television shortly after her release, Carroll said she didn't know why she had been kidnapped.

"They treated me well. They didn't hit me or threaten me," Carroll, wearing a headscarf, told Baghdad Television in English.

"I'm just happy to be free. I just want to be with my family," she said in comments translated into Arabic by the channel.

She said she had a comfortable room and was able to wash, but could not move beyond the immediate confines of her accommodation.

Asked who her captors were and why they seized her off a Baghdad street on Jan. 7, she said in translated remarks: "I don't know. You should ask the mujahideen."

Carroll's family said it was elated by her release Thursday.

"Our hearts are full. We are elated by Jill's safe release," family members said in a statement read by editor Richard Bergenheim of The Christian Science Monitor.

"Our thoughts are with the families of others still being held hostage in Iraq and we hope that their loved ones will return safely to them soon."

Carroll was kidnapped in Baghdad's western Adil neighbourhood on her way to interview Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. Her translator was killed in the attack about 300 metres from al-Dulaimi's office.

A group calling itself the Revenge Brigades had threatened to kill Carroll if all women detainees in Iraq were not released by Feb. 26. The date came and went without word on her fate.

She was last seen in a videotape broadcast Feb. 9 by a private Kuwaiti television station.

On Wednesday night, her twin, Katie, issued a plea for her release on Al-Arabiya television. She said her sister was a "wonderful person" who is an "innocent woman."

"I've been living a nightmare, worrying if she is hurt or ill,'' Katie Carroll said, according to a transcript released by the Monitor.

Speaking today about her release, U.S. President George Bush said he was "grateful" that Carroll was now free, and thanked "those who worked hard to release her and we're glad she's alive."

Carroll, who speaks Arabic, went to the Middle East in 2002, to fulfill a lifelong dream of covering a war.

She is the fourth Western hostage to be freed in eight days.

Last week, Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden and Briton Norman Kember -- of the Christian Peacemaker Teams -- were rescued by multinational forces.

They were kidnapped along with American Tom Fox, who was killed. His body was dumped in western Baghdad on March 9.

With files from The Associated Press