May 13, 2007

U.S. hunts for 3 missing soldiers south of Baghdad

By Ibon Villelabeitia

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-led troops combed orchards and searched farms after seven American soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter were ambushed on Saturday in an al Qaeda bastion south of Baghdad, leaving five dead and three missing.

The military said the patrol was attacked before dawn west of the town of Mahmudiya in the Sunni "triangle of death", the same area where two U.S. soldiers were abducted by al Qaeda insurgents last year before their mutilated bodies were found.

U.S. soldiers fire towards an unidentified sound while manning a check point in At Tarmiyah town May 11, 2007. U.S.-led troops combed orchards and searched farms after seven American soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter were ambushed on Saturday in an al Qaeda bastion south of Baghdad, leaving five dead and three missing. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

Residents said on Sunday the patrol was ambushed by insurgents after it struck a roadside bomb on a rural road in an area of palm groves called Shibaiya, near the town of Yusufiya.

"We saw smoke rise from the area. Three vehicles were on fire and a fourth one had fallen into a canal," said a farmer, who asked that his name not be used for fear of retaliation.

"U.S. forces cordoned off the area and made arrests," the farmer told Reuters as U.S. helicopters hovered overhead.

The mayor of Mahmudiya, Muayed al-Ameri, also said the patrol had been ambushed and said the Iraqi army translator was among the missing.

"We have called the tribal leaders to help in the search for the kidnapped," Ameri told Reuters.

The U.S. military has not said if the Iraqi army translator was among the dead or missing, suggesting the five killed could be beyond initial recognition. The three missing soldiers are officially listed as "duty status and whereabouts unknown".

AREA SEALED

The area where the attack took place has long been a stronghold of al Qaeda militants and other Sunni Arab insurgents, residents said.

One resident in Yusufiya said U.S. helicopters had dropped leaflets offering a reward for anybody with information leading to the missing soldiers.

U.S. and Iraqi troops taking part in a massive hunt involving helicopters, drones and jets searched homes, combed river canals and lush palm groves, and sealed off the area to prevent the attackers from escaping, residents said.

Last June, al Qaeda militants kidnapped two U.S. soldiers in Yusufiya in an attack on a U.S. checkpoint in which a third U.S. soldier was killed. The mutilated and booby-trapped bodies of the two were found days later after a manhunt involving 8,000 U.S. troops.

The U.S. military said that after the attack a drone observed two burning vehicles, and when U.S. forces arrived an hour later they saw five soldiers dead. A unit that heard blasts had tried unsuccessfully to establish communications with the patrol.

The attack came as 30,000 additional U.S. troops are being deployed in Baghdad in what is regarded as a final push to halt Iraq's slide into all-out civil war between majority Shi'ites and once-dominant Sunni Arabs.

The plan, which has reduced sectarian murders in Baghdad, is also aimed at securing the violent outlying areas outside Baghdad from where Sunni Arab militants are staging attacks against Shi'ite targets in the capital and elsewhere.

Bush is under pressure from Democrats to set timetables for withdrawing American troops in a four-year war that has killed more than 3,300 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis since the invasion in 2003.

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U.S. hunts for 3 missing soldiers south of Baghdad