3 Arrested in Case of Missing U.S. Troops

Three Iraqis were arrested Friday in the possible abduction of two U.S. soldiers north of Baghdad, a military spokesman said.

Sgt. Patrick Compton, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the three suspects were being interrogated. No other information on the arrests was immediately available.

U.S. officials said the two American soldiers were apparently abducted Wednesday night. The men and their Humvee were posted at a rocket demolition site near the town of Balad, north of Baghdad, when they went missing, Compton said.

Ground and aerial searches in the area have not found the vehicle, Compton said, adding that it was possible the soldiers are no longer alive.

“We don’t know if they were abducted or they were just killed,” Compton said.

Apache attack helicopters were deployed to look for the two immediately after they didn’t respond to a radio check, officials said. American troops scoured the area.

Just northwest of Baghdad, a U.S. Army truck apparently hit an explosive device Friday morning, with a U.S. soldier and an eyewitness saying wounded Americans were evacuated by helicopter.

Ambushes and hostile fire in Iraq on Thursday killed at least one U.S. soldier and two Iraqi civilians and wounded eight other Americans.

Officials have played down the violence, but with shattered glass, blood stains and mangled vehicles littering the landscape, the upsurge in attacks is causing concern that the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq could be turning into a guerrilla war.