DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./IRAQ: AMERICA'S MISSING SOLDIERS

US traps al-Qaeda kidnappers in Iraq's Triangle of Death
PAUL TAIT AND IBON VILLELABEITIA

SUSPECTED al-Qaeda militants holding three American soldiers are trapped in a farming area near Baghdad, the US military said, as it announced rewards of up to £100,000 for information leading to their safe return.

Backed by helicopters and using sniffer dogs, thousands of US and Iraqi troops taking part in the hunt have isolated towns in the "Triangle of Death" south of the capital, where the captors are believed to be hiding, the military said. Al-Qaeda has warned the United States that the hunt could put the captured soldiers' lives at risk.

But Major Kenny Mintz said: "The captors don't have freedom of movement; if they have the soldiers, they can't move them from where they are.

"We're doing a deliberate search of the areas for the people responsible for taking the soldiers we're looking for."

The soldiers, part of a unit sent to intercept roadside bombs in a Sunni Arab militant stronghold, went missing after a co-ordinated ambush on Saturday in which four other US soldiers and an Iraqi army translator were killed.

The hunt, in a terrain of orchards and canals centred near the town of Mahmudiya, where suspected militants abducted two US soldiers in June. Their mutilated bodies were found days later.

The US military said it had detained 11 people and conducted "tactical questionings" since the search began.

Major General Rick Lynch, commander of US troops south of Baghdad, said the reward offer was made on leaflets distributed in the area where the troops disappeared. "We distributed 50,000 leaflets and in the leaflets and over loudspeakers we listed the numbers of our tips lines ... and we offered rewards of up to 250 million Iraqi dinars," Maj Gen Lynch said.

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Islamic State of Iraq Claims Capturing 'Crusader' Soldiers

On 13 May, a jihadist website posted a statement issued by the Ministry of Information of the Islamic State in Iraq claming responsibility for the "capture and arrest of a number of crusaders south of the state of Baghdad."

A translation of the statement follows:

"In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

"Praise be to God, Lord of all creation. Prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all of his family and companions.

"On Saturday, 24 Rabi al-Thani 1428 Hegira, corresponding to 12 May 2007, your brothers in the Islamic State of Iraq were favored by God to clash with a crusaders patrol in the area of Al-Mahmudiyah, south of the state of Baghdad, which lead to the capturing and death of a number of them. We shall provide you with the full details of this blessed operation as soon as it arrives.
We ask God for His help and guidance.

"Oh Lord, Revealer of the book, the Mover of the clouds, and the Defeater of the parties, defeat the hateful rejectionists, the Zionist Crusaders, and their allies.

"Oh God, make them and their equipment booty of war for Muslims.

"Oh God, destroy them and shake the ground under them.

"Oh God, you are our support and helper, we count on you in our movements and battles.

"Oh God, defeat and crush them: you are the Almighty and All-powerful. Oh God, we ask you to strike them like you did the Pharaoh and his people.

"Oh God, send the deluge to their land, and make them perish with something of fear, hunger, and loss of wealth, lives, and fruits [Koranic verse].

"Oh God, your soldiers shall never be defeated, and your people shall never be beaten.

"Oh God, defeat them and shake them; you are the Possessor of All Strength, the Victorious. Oh Lord of majesty and bounty, oh Everlasting, oh Self-Existing One.

"'But honor belongs to Allah and His Messenger, and to the Believers; but the Hypocrites know not' [Koranic verse].


Pertinent Links:

1) US traps al-Qaeda kidnappers in Iraq's Triangle of Death

2) Islamic State of Iraq Claims Capturing 'Crusader' Soldiers

3) U.S. CENTCOM