Bad News From Iraq

[Annie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060617/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_soldiers_missing

U.S. seeks soldiers in Iraq death triangle

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer 57 minutes ago

U.S. troops on Saturday searched for two soldiers missing after an attack that killed one of their comrades at a checkpoint in the so-called "Triangle of Death" south of Baghdad.

U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said four raids had been carried out since Friday's attack and that ground forces, helicopters and airplanes were taking part in the search.

He said a dive team also was going to search for the men, whose checkpoint was located by a Euphrates River canal near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad.

The New York Times reported that Iraqi residents in the area said they saw two soldiers taken prisoner by a group of masked guerrillas. It said the two surviving soldiers were led to two cars and driven away.

Fellow soldiers at a nearby checkpoint heard small-arms fire and explosions, and a quick-reaction force reached the scene in 15 minutes, the military said. The force found one soldier dead but no sign of the two others.

"We are currently using every means at our disposal on the ground, in the air and in the water to find them," said Caldwell, the spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad.

The area is known as the Triangle of Death because of the frequent ambushes and attacks against U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops.

The spokesman noted the military was still searching for Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, who went missing on April 9, 2004.

"We continue to search using every means available and will not stop looking until we find the missing soldiers," he said.

Maupin was captured when insurgents ambushed his fuel convoy with the 724th Transportation Co. west of Baghdad. A week later, Arab television network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape showing Maupin sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.

That June, Al-Jazeera aired another tape purporting to show a U.S. soldier being shot. But the dark, grainy tape showed only the back of the victim's head and did not show the actual shooting. The Army ruled it was inconclusive whether the soldier was Maupin.

A 20-year-old private first class at the time of his capture, Maupin has been promoted twice since then.

 

[Annie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060617/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_soldiers_missing

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060619/D8IB8TSG3.html

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Jun 19, 7:47 AM (ET)

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The U.S. military said Monday that seven American troops have been wounded, three insurgents have been killed and 34 detained during an intensive search for two missing American soldiers.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles and dive teams had been deployed to find the two men. The men went missing Friday during an attack on their checkpoint in the volatile Sunni area south of Baghdad that left one of their comrades dead.

"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 in a statement issued Monday.

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." He said seven other U.S. service members had been wounded in action during the search efforts that began Friday night.

The Defense Department identified the missing men as Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. It said Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., 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, Ky.

Caldwell said more than 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops were participating in the search.

"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 have 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.