Missing soldiers in Iraq found dead

By Mussab Al-Khairalla

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two U.S. soldiers missing in Iraq for
three days have been found dead, their bodies showing signs of
“barbaric” torture, an Iraqi general said on Tuesday, after an
intensive hunt involving thousands of troops.

“Coalition forces have recovered what we believe are the
remains of the soldiers,” U.S. military spokesman Major General
William Caldwell said, declining to comment on how they died.

An Internet statement claimed the new leader of al Qaeda in
Iraq “slit the throats” of the two men but its authenticity
seemed questionable. The same group had said in a statement on
Monday to be holding the men, but Caldwell dismissed that.

“God Almighty has graced the leader Abu Hamza al-Muhajir
… with the implementation of the sentence,” said a statement
from the Mujahideen Shura Council. Al Qaeda’s former leader in
Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, died in a U.S. air strike two weeks
ago.

Caldwell said a joint U.S.-Iraqi force found the bodies of
Privates Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, and Kristian Menchaca, 23,
on Monday night dumped at an electrical plant. The recovery of
the bodies was delayed by having to defuse bombs planted
nearby.

He did not make clear whether the bodies themselves or the
site were booby-trapped: “There were some IEDs in that location
and they did have to dismantle some stuff to get to them.”

Iraqi Defense Ministry official Major General Abdul Aziz
Mohammed told Reuters earlier that the bodies showed signs of
“barbaric torture.” He did not elaborate.

The U.S. military launched a massive search for the
soldiers involving aircraft and 8,000 U.S troops and Iraqi
security forces after vowing not to leave them “out there.”

The discovery came as more bomb blasts shook Baghdad,
killing nine people despite a security clampdown. The U.S.
military also said troops hunting insurgents linked to al Qaeda
had killed 15 gunmen in raids north of the capital.

Caldwell said a U.S. air strike on a fleeing vehicle killed
a senior al Qaeda in Iraq leader on Friday in the same area
where the two American soldiers went missing a few hours later.

U.S. forces had been on the trail of Mansur al-Mashhadani,
identified as the top al Qaeda religious leader in the country,
before he was killed in the Yusufiya area just south of
Baghdad.

Tucker and Menchaca went missing at dusk on Friday after an
ambush at a checkpoint in Yusufiya, a town in an area south of
Baghdad some Iraqis call the “Triangle of Death,” which is an
al Qaeda stronghold. Another soldier was killed in the attack.

Their deaths dealt a blow to the U.S. military after it
killed Zarqawi on June 7 near Baquba, northeast of Baghdad.

U.S. forces hunting insurgents linked to a suspected senior
al Qaeda member launched simultaneous pre-dawn raids near
Baquba on Tuesday, the U.S military said.

U.S. soldiers were fired on from the roof of a house in the
village of Qaduri Ali al Shahin, 13 km (8 miles) north of
Baquba as the operation got under way. Troops and supporting
aircraft returned fire, killing 11 gunmen.

FORCED LANDING

One helicopter had to make a forced landing after hitting
utility lines. None of the crew was hurt but three gunmen were
killed by aerial fire when they tried to attack the aircraft.

U.S. troops said they found 10 AK-47 assault rifles and
explosives in the raids, but residents said the victims were
innocent employees of a nearby poultry farm.

Caldwell insisted no civilians had been killed in what he
described as an “extremely long firefight.”

U.S. forces have stepped up their hunt for al Qaeda
insurgents following Zarqawi’s death and the government
announced a security clampdown in the capital to try to thwart
the car bombings that exact a deadly daily toll on civilians.

A car bomb killed seven people in a crowded Baghdad market
on Tuesday, while a roadside bomb killed two in the city.

In the southern city of Basra, a suicide bomber attacked a
crowd of elderly and disabled people as they gathered to
collect pensions. The bomber, who had two belts of explosives
strapped around him, wounded five people.

Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Tuesday
Japan would withdraw its 550 soldiers, engaged in
reconstruction and humanitarian work in Iraq.

Iraqi and British officials said Iraqi forces could take
responsibility for a second southern province soon after
announcing on Monday that the British-led force in the south
would hand over Muthanna province next month.

(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami, Ibon Villelabeitia,
Michael Georgy, in Baghdad and Ahmed Abbas in Qaduri Ali al
Shahin)