Three US troops captured in Iraq – the search is on
The AP reports:
BAGHDAD (AP) – An al-Qaida front group announced Sunday it had captured American soldiers in a deadly attack the day before, as thousands of U.S. troops searched insurgent areas south of Baghdad for their three missing comrades.
The statement came on one of the deadliest days in the country in recent weeks, with at least 124 people killed or found dead. A suicide truck bomb tore through the offices of a Kurdish political party in northern Iraq, killing 50 people, and a car bombing in a crowded Baghdad market killed another 17.
Troops surrounded the town of Youssifiyah and told residents over loudspeakers to stay inside, residents said. They then methodically searched the houses, focusing on possible secret chambers under the floors where the soldiers might be hidden, residents said. The soldiers marked each searched house with a white piece of cloth.
Soldiers also searched cars entering and leaving the town, writing “searched” on the side of each vehicle they had inspected. Several people were arrested, witnesses said.
The Islamic State in Iraq offered no proof for its claim that it was behind the attack Saturday in Mahmoudiya that also killed four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi translator. But the Sunni area known as the “triangle of death” is a longtime al-Qaida stronghold.
If the claim proves true, it would mark one of the most brazen attacks by the umbrella Sunni insurgent group against U.S. forces here.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for the U.S. military, said 4,000 U.S. troops backed by aircraft and intelligence units were scouring the farming area as the military made “every effort available to find our missing soldiers.”
President Bush was also getting regular updates on the missing soldiers, said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council in Washington.
Michelle Malkin has been watching developments closely and has several updates to this story here.
Gateway Pundit reminds us what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to say back in November about the President’s assertions that Al Qaeda was fomenting violence in Iraq:
“My thoughts on the president’s representations are well-known,” Pelosi said. “The 9/11 Commission dismissed that notion a long time ago and I feel sad that the president is resorting to it again.”
Her willful ignorance knows no bounds.
My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those murdered, and with those of the missing soldiers, who I pray turn up safe.
In related news, Reuters is reporting that two US soldiers were shot dead and another two wounded today by a Pakistani officer during a border meeting:
KABUL, Afghanistan – A Pakistani officer shot dead two U.S. soldiers Monday during a meeting over a border clash between Pakistani troops and Afghans, an Afghan government spokesman said.
A spokesman for the Pakistan military denied that its soldiers had shot anyone.
Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi told Reuters: “At the meeting, a Pakistani officer rose up and fired at U.S. soldiers, resulting in the deaths of two soldiers and wounding of two others.”
He said U.S. soldiers had returned fire, killing several Pakistani troops. An Afghan officer present at the meeting in Pakistan’s Kurram tribal agency was also wounded, he said.