U.S. soldiers secure the scene of a bomb
attack in Baghdad May 14, 2007.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
BAGHDAD, May 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S.
and Iraqi soldiers backed by aircraft were still hunting for three American soldiers who went missing after an
attack on U.S. soldiers in area south of Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military
said on Sunday.
"We will make every effort available to find our
three missing soldiers," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief military
spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said in a news conference.
Insurgents attacked a patrol of seven U.S. soldiers
and an Iraqi interpreter in an area 20 km west of Mahmoudiyah town south of
Baghdad early on Saturday, killing four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter.
Three others were missing after the raid.
Caldwell told reporters that the U.S. military had
identified the bodies of three U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter.
"We have identified four of the five bodies and among
them is the Iraqi interpreter, but the military was still working to identify
the fifth body," Caldwell said.
Mahmoudiyah, some 30 km south of Baghdad, is a stronghold for
Sunni insurgents and is part of an area code-named "Triangle of Death" because
of the frequent insurgent attacks.
CAIRO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- A group affiliated to al-Qaida in
Iraq said on Sunday in an Islamic Website that the missing U.S. soldiers were in
their hand for now.
In a statement posted on the
Website, the group self-called Islamic State in Iraq said that it has been
holding the "crusader" soldiers since the attack against the U.S. patrol south
of Baghdad on Saturday. Full story
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