Al Qaeda-Linked Group Says It Kidnapped Two U.S. Soldiers

A group affiliated with Al Qaeda in Iraq on Monday claimed without offering proof that it had kidnapped two American soldiers, as thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops looked for the missing men in an area known as “the triangle of death.”

Seven U.S. troops were wounded during the massive search, according to the top military spokesman in Baghdad, though the cause of the injuries was not immediately announced.

The two soldiers disappeared Friday after gunmen attacked a checkpoint near Yousifiya, southwest of the capital. They were identified as Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.

A third soldier, identified as Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed during the fight at the checkpoint. All three soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

“Words cannot express the sadness we feel at the loss of Spc. Babineau and the uncertainty the families of Pfc. Menchaca and Pfc. Tucker must be experiencing,” Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV said in a statement. “Our deepest sympathy goes out to their families.”

More than 8,000 American and Iraqi security personnel were looking for the missing soldiers. Three teams of divers searched the nearby Euphrates River. The military used planes, boats, helicopters and unmanned drones “to ensure the most thorough search possible on the ground, in the air and in the water,” Caldwell said. “We are using every means at our disposal.”

Security forces killed three suspected rebels and detained 34 others during the operation, in which troops surrounded and searched a dozen villages southwest of Baghdad.

The area around Yousifiya, which is dotted by farms, date palms and orange trees, is a rebel stronghold widely known as the “triangle of death.” U.S. soldiers often come under attack in the town, and there is no functioning police force after insurgents twice bombed the police department. Residents say that slayings are commonplace and that many families have fled the area because of the violence.

Mayor Muayed Fadil, 50, said Iraqi soldiers provided some protection for government offices downtown but that rebels ran rampant on the outskirts of Yousifiya.

Checkpoints and American patrols do little to counter the violence, he said. Fearful residents have stopped talking to their neighbors and are instead hiding inside their houses.

“Life is limited in Yousifiya because of terrorism,” Fadil said. “People are living in horror at night because of the terrorist cells.”

Mujahedin Shura Council in Iraq, a group linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq, posted a statement on the Internet claiming responsibility for what it said was a kidnapping but offered no proof, such as pictures of the soldiers or their identification cards.

“The American Army, using different kinds of machines and armor, raided the area where the incident took place but the army of ‘the world’s strongest country’ returned without success, humiliated,” the statement said.

Another U.S. soldier has been long missing in Iraq. Sgt. Keith M. Maupin of Batavia, Ohio, was captured during an ambush in April 9, 2004. About three months later, a videotape was released of a man being shot in the back of the head and falling into a shallow grave, with a narrator saying the man was Maupin. But the victim’s face was not shown.

While troops searched the rural area southwest of Baghdad on Monday, violence continued elsewhere despite a recent security crackdown.

A car bomb targeted an Iraqi army checkpoint in Baghdad, killing five and injuring nine others, according to authorities. Another car bomb targeted special police commandos in the southwestern part of the city, killing two officers and three civilians and injuring five other people. A third car bomb exploded minutes later in a market in a southern neighborhood, killing six civilians and injuring 20.

A roadside bomb southwest of the city of Hillah killed a civilian and injured as many as eight others, local police said.

At a news conference, Interior Minister Jawad Bolani said the government was trying to improve safety measures in the capital. Thousands of security troops have flooded Baghdad and set up ubiquitous checkpoints, which many Iraqis say do little to improve security while trapping drivers in snarling traffic.

“We feel the suffering of the people, but I hope they will forgive us for the delay the plan is causing for them,” Bolani said.

He added that the government had sent a delegation to solve troubles in the southern city of Basra, where rivalry among various Shiite Muslim groups had recently led to increased violence.

President Jalal Talabani and British Defense Secretary Des Browne also held a news conference, during which Browne talked of heightened security measures in the southern city. Britain has about 7,200 troops in Iraq based in and around Basra.

“We do not underestimate the challenge that we face together here,” Browne said. “We’ll stay here as long as there is a job to be done, and as long as the Iraqi government wants us to support them.”

In the disputed northern city of Kirkuk, security forces flooded roads and set up a number of new checkpoints, local officials said. Iraqi police also distributed pictures of suspected insurgents believed to have ties to Al Qaeda in Iraq, promising a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of any of five top rebels.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military continued a sweep in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, where hundreds of American and Iraqi troops moved into the eastern section of the violent city in search of guerrillas, the Associated Press reported from the scene. The operation is intended to install U.S. and Iraqi troops in an area where insurgents have frequently launched attacks.

Times staff writers Saif Hameed, Raheem Salman and Saif Rasheed in Baghdad and special correspondent Ali Windawi in Kirkuk contributed to this report.