US military expands search for missing soldiers
The US military today said it had intensified its search for two missing soldiers, with more than 8,000 Iraqi and US troops combing the volatile area south of Baghdad where the men were attacked.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a spokesman for US forces in Iraq, also said the military had killed three suspected insurgents and detained 34 others in fighting that left seven US servicemen wounded during the search that began on Friday evening.
Fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles and dive teams had been deployed to find the two men who disappeared an attack on their checkpoint that left one of their comrades dead, Caldwell said.
“We have surged intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms and employed planes, boats, helicopters and UAVs to ensure the most thorough search possible on the ground, in the air and in the water,” Caldwell said.
He did not comment on reports that the two men had been seized by insurgents, saying only that they were listed as “duty status and whereabouts unknown”.
Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari said the soldiers appeared to have been taken prisoner by insurgents. “Hopefully they will be found and released as soon as possible,” he said .
Ahmed Khalaf Falah, a farmer who said he witnessed the abduction of the Americans on Friday, said the two soldiers had been captured by seven masked gunmen who were heavily armed during the attack near Youssifiyah, about 12 miles south of Baghdad.
The town is in the so-called Triangle of Death, a predominantly Sunni region that has been the scene of frequent ambushes of US soldiers and Iraqi troops.
Insurgents also continued to defy a security crackdown in Baghdad, although violence appeared to have ebbed somewhat after several bloody attacks in recent days.
A parked car bomb struck an Iraqi army convoy near a busy Baghdad square today, killing five people, including four Iraqi soldiers, and wounding nine passers-by, Lt. Ahmed Muhammad Ali said.
A policeman also was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in western Baghdad.
In another development, 500 detainees were released from US-run detention centres in Iraq, the Justice Ministry said, part of prime minister Nouri Maliki’s plan to release 2,500 prisoners to promote national reconciliation.
The US military also said the Central Criminal Court of Iraq has sentenced 29 convicted insurgents to up to 15 years in prison for offences ranging from possessing illegal weapons to membership in armed groups. Five of the suspects were foreigners, including an Iranian man who was sentenced to six years in prison after he was caught entering the country illegally.
The sentences were handed down between May 31 and June 13, according to the statement. The court has tried a total of 1,229 suspected insurgents and convicted 1,066 of them, it said.
The US military has said that soldiers at a nearby checkpoint heard small-arms fire and explosions during the checkpoint attack at 7.15pm on Friday, and a quick-reaction force reached the scene within 15 minutes. The force found one soldier dead but no signs of the other two.
The Defence Department identified the missing men as Pt Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pt Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Oregon. It said Sgt David Babineau, 25, Springfield, Massachusetts, was killed in the attack. The three were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Menchaca’s family members said they were hoping for his safe return upon learning he was one of two servicemen reported missing in Iraq after an insurgent attack on a checkpoint.
“I was 95 per cent sure he was one of them,” said Menchaca’s brother, Julio Cesar Vasquez, of Houston. “I already had an idea because he was at a checkpoint.”
Caldwell said seven other US service members had been wounded in action during the search. He said more than 8,000 US and Iraqi troops were participating in the efforts.
“While searching for our soldiers, we have engaged in a number of significant actions against the anti-Iraqi forces,” he said, adding that three insurgents had been killed and 34 taken into custody.
He also said the military had received 63 tips and had launched 12 cordon and search operations, eight air assaults and 280 flight hours were logged.
“Approximately 12 villages had been cleared in the area, and we continue to engage local citizens for help and information leading to the whereabouts of our soldiers,” he said, without elaborating.
In other violence Monday, according to police:
:: An electrical worker identified as Saadoun Abdul-Hussein Radi, a former member of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, was gunned down as he was going to work in downtown Amarah, 180 miles south-east of Baghdad;
:: Gunmen killed police Col. Abdel-Shahid Saleh as he was heading to work west of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad;
:: Gunmen trying to kill a former army major in the northern city of Mosul killed a civilian while injuring their target;
:: An insurgent sniper killed an Iraqi soldier 25 miles west of Baghdad. An Iraqi convoy fired back at the attacker and two civilians were wounded.
