California IN BRIEF : HUNTINGTON BEACH : Alleged POW Photos Given to U.S. Agency

Two photos purporting to show an American soldier being held prisoner in Southeast Asia were turned over Friday to the Defense Intelligence Agency by a local Vietnam veterans group that earlier this summer unearthed similar photos of alleged prisoners of war. Bob Kukak, spokesman for the 15-member Vietnam War Veterans of Southern California, said he is skeptical of the latest pictures, which were passed to his group through a network originating in Thailand. One of the photos came with the name of a missing American soldier attached, he said, but the man’s family examined it and said it was not him. Kukak declined to identify the family. One black-and-white photo shows a dark-haired, bearded man wearing a vest, plaid shirt and what appears to be a backpack. The other photo, in color, shows what appears to be the same man holding a newspaper in front of an odd, speckled red background. The photo’s “colored-in look” suggests the picture may have been doctored, Kukak said.