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U.S. detains 11 Iraqis in search for GI's
Topic Started: May 15 2007, 02:19 AM (307 Views)
Mountain Laurel
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"Goddess of Flowers".
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U.S. detains 11 Iraqis in search for GIs By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer
32 minutes ago



BAGHDAD - U.S. troops have questioned hundreds of people and detained 11 in the search for three American soldiers feared captured by al-Qaida during a weekend ambush south of Baghdad, the military said Tuesday.



For a fourth day, jets, helicopters and unmanned surveillance aircraft crisscrossed the skies over the sparsely populated farm area near Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad to search for the missing soldiers. U.S. and Iraqi troops — backed by dog teams — searched vehicles and pedestrians. Other teams peered into crawl spaces and probed for possible secret chambers in homes.

"We have conducted more than 450 tactical interviews and detained 11 individuals" as of Monday night, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said.

Garver said the Americans were also turning to the local population, which he said "continues to be helpful in providing tips."

Elsewhere, two bombs hidden in plastic bags exploded in shops in central Baghdad, killing at least seven people and wounding 17, and dozens of suspected insurgents attacked a village north of the capital, killing five civilians and wounding 14, Iraqi authorities said.

On Monday, the Islamic State of Iraq — an al-Qaida front group that claims it has the soldiers — warned the U.S. to halt its search by about 4,000 troops, and the Pentagon acknowledged for the first time that it believes the soldiers are in terrorist hands.

Last June, al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the deaths of two U.S. soldiers whose mutilated bodies were later found in the same area.

If all three soldiers now missing are taken hostage alive, it would be the biggest single abduction of U.S. soldiers in Iraq since March 23, 2003, when Pvt. Jessica Lynch and six others were captured in an ambush near Nasiriyah in which 11 Americans were killed.

The three were last seen before a pre-dawn ambush Saturday that destroyed several Humvees in a U.S. convoy and killed four Americans and an Iraqi soldier traveling with them.

At 9:15 a.m. Tuesday a bomb hidden in a minibus leaving a bus stop on a main road in Mahmoudiya exploded, wounding three Iraqi passengers, police said.

Al-Qaida has been active for years in the string of towns and villages south of the capital, a mostly Sunni region known as the "triangle of death" because of frequent attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces as well as Shiite civilians traveling to shrine cities in the south.

During the search Monday, U.S. and Iraqi forces exchanged fire with gunmen near the town of Youssifiyah, killing two and injuring four, an Iraqi army officer said.

On Tuesday, an Iraqi interpreter working with the U.S. soldiers said the coalition's search was focusing on rural areas outside Mahmoudiya and that life was proceeding as normal in the city.

But he also said Iraqi civilians being stopped for questioning by U.S. forces appeared nervous that they could be attacked by insurgents later, if they were seen cooperating with the coalition. The interpreter spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for his own security.

The area around Mahmoudiya has long been especially volatile because Saddam Hussein recruited members of Sunni tribes there into his elite Republican Guard and intelligence services. Many of them were believed to have joined the insurgency after Saddam's regime collapsed in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. U.S. officers also say extremists have fled Baghdad for surrounding areas to escape the three-month Baghdad security crackdown.

In central Baghdad, a pair of bombs hidden in plastic bags exploded Tuesday afternoon within minutes in two shops selling CDs and cigarettes in Tayaran Square. Police said at least seven people were killed and 17 wounded.

The Shiite-controlled commercial area has been struck frequently by suicide attackers and roadside bombs.

In Diyala province, about 50 suspected insurgents attacked a small Shiite village early Tuesday, killing five people and wounding 14, Iraqi army and police officers said. Locals fought back for about an hour, and an undetermined number of insurgents were killed or wounded, the officers said.

Also Tuesday, a roadside bomb apparently hit a U.S. convoy in the Kamaliya area of southeastern Baghdad. AP Television News video showed one of the convoy's trucks burning and two Black Hawk helicopters circling overhead. Later, when the fire went out, Iraq men and young boys looted what remained of the truck.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070515/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
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Mountain Laurel
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Unfortunately I don't think these soldiers will be found or released. So sad.
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