Why such a paltry sum? Why not $25 million?
B
U.S. offers $200,000 for tips on missing troops
Story Highlights
. NEW: Thousands of leaflets dropped in Iraq to advertise $200,000 reward
. NEW: Military commander says 2 arrestees have acknowledged roles in attack
. 11 arrests made during search, four of which are high-value targets
. Three soldiers killed in attack identified; another burned too badly to
identify
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military is offering a $200,000 reward for
any information about the location of three missing American soldiers, or
who was involved in their possible abduction, a senior U.S. military
official at the Pentagon told CNN's Barbara Starr.
The military also is dropping approximately 150,000 leaflets from
helicopters in the region south of Baghdad where the soldiers went missing
after an ambush Saturday.
The pamphlets urge Iraqis to call a tip line with any information and inform
them of the reward money, the official said.
Four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi soldier were killed in the early Saturday
attack outside Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad. (Watch why kidnapping weighs
heavily on U.S. troops
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ffl','2009/05/14');>
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5/14/riminton.iraq.warning.affl','2009/05/14');','2007/05/16');> Video)
The U.S. military has sifted through more than 140 tips that have led to
dozens of "deliberate operations" in its massive search for three missing
American soldiers, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said Wednesday.
The military spokesman said one U.S. soldier has been wounded in the search,
launched after the soldiers disappeared Saturday morning following an ambush
south of Baghdad.
Caldwell said 37 specific operations have been launched "going after
targets, trying to find our missing soldiers."
Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces are taking part in the search and have
questioned more than 600 people. Of those, 11 have been detained, he said.
The commander for the 4th Battalion told CNN's Arwa Damon that two of those
in U.S. military custody have admitted to being involved in the attack. They
do not appear to be al Qaeda members, the commander said. They told
interrogators they were paid by a middle man to take part in the attack.
Caldwell said the area south of Baghdad has been divided into 35 zones of
which 32 have been searched.
"But those operations are ongoing and are by no means complete," Caldwell
added.
He said evidence from the scene of the ambush indicates "there was a
firefight [but] we don't know the exact condition of our three missing men."
"We still presume the men are alive," he said. "We have no indications to
reflect otherwise at this time."
The slain and missing U.S. soldiers were based at Fort Drum in New York, and
all seven have been identified as members of the 4th Battalion, 31st
Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division's Second Brigade Combat
Team. All of the soldiers are male.
The families of the seven have been notified that their kin were involved in
the incident.
Soldiers identified
So far, three families have been notified that their relatives were killed
in action.
The three slain man are Pfc. Christopher E. Murphy, 21, of Lynchburg,
Virginia; Pfc. Daniel W. Courneya, 19, of Vermontville, Michigan.; and Sgt.
1st Class James D. Connell Jr., 40, of Lake City, Tennessee. The number of
U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq now stands at 3,401. (Watch
Courneya's mom describe his dream of being a
<javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2007/05/15/tagliavia.mi.soldier.slain
.wilx','2009/05/14');> soldier
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5/tagliavia.mi.soldier.slain.wilx','2009/05/14');','2007/05/16');> Video)
Four others -- three missing and one of the dead -- remain listed as "duty
status whereabouts unknown." The military can't yet sort out precisely who
is missing because one of the four bodies is so badly burned that it can't
be immediately identified.
The Department of Defense identified the four as Sgt. Anthony J. Schober,
23, of Reno, Nevada; Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts;
Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, California; and Pvt. Byron W.
Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Michigan.
The military was performing a DNA test to determine the identity of the
fourth body and hopes to have the testing completed by midday Wednesday.
A senior U.S. military official said officers believe that the kidnapping
was a "planned snatch" because of the manner in which it was carried out and
that 10 or more insurgents had to be involved to make the ambush work.
The kidnapping was part of a "complex attack," meaning the attackers used
many different weapons such as firearms and grenades, but the source
wouldn't be specific on the kinds of weapons used.
The official said the attackers targeted a "stationary observation post,"
and the military said the group attacked was part of a larger operation
searching for the bombers.
Caldwell said the patrol was "static throughout the night with concertina
wire somewhat around their position."
They were also part of a "larger element," with the next element of that
force posted some 500 meters away, Caldwell said.
The 4th battalion commander told CNN's Damon that the second position heard
two explosions and tried to establish radio contact but were not able to.
(Watch the dangers troops face in the Triangle of Death
<javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/world/2007/05/12/damon.kidnapped.cnn','2
009/05/11');>
<javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/world/2007/05/12/damon.kidnapped.cnn','2
009/05/11');> Video)
They contacted another battle position to the south and told them to have a
patrol ready to send out, the commander said.
An unmanned aerial vehicle was dispatched and spotted two burning humvees.
The two units headed to the area and both encountered roadside bombs, the
commander said. One unit had to dismount to get around a roadside bomb and,
at that point, saw the burning humvees, he said.
The commander said the units responded within 30 minutes, not an hour as
Caldwell has previously said.
The patrol that was ambushed was in the fifth of a six-hour shift, the
commander said.
Caldwell said the division headquarters is "looking very carefully at the
whole tactical situation to see if there's something they need to do
better."
"The first focus is finding our soldiers ... but then they will be looking
very closely at the tactics involved," Caldwell said.
The Islamic State of Iraq -- a Sunni insurgent coalition that includes al
Qaeda in Iraq -- issued a statement Monday saying it is holding the troops
and is warning the U.S. military to call off its search.
CNN cannot independently verify the claim, which was posted on Islamist Web
sites.
While the insurgent group offered no proof that it is holding the soldiers,
Caldwell said Monday that the military believes al Qaeda in Iraq or an
affiliated group is responsible for their abduction.
"This assessment is based on highly credible intelligence information,"
Caldwell said.
Raid sparks clashes
Fighting between Iraqi security forces and Mehdi Army fighters entered a
second day in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya on Wednesday, sparked by
an Iraqi military raid on a political office of radical Shiite cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraqi officials told CNN.
At least nine people have been killed and dozens wounded in the clashes,
which began Tuesday night and stopped Wednesday around 3 p.m. (7 a.m. ET),
police and hospital officials said.
Two mortar rounds targeted the mayor's headquarters in Nasiriya, an official
with the mayor's office told CNN.
A local al-Sadr political leader told CNN that an Iraqi "Quick Intervention
Force" raided al-Sadr's political office in Nasiriya Tuesday night and
arrested two members. A short time later, clashes erupted and Iraqi police
fired rocket-propelled grenades at the office building.
That attack killed five people and injured 14 inside the office, which was
then occupied by the forces, Abd al-Mahdi al-Motairi said.
The Iraqi forces refused to withdraw from the office, despite a plea from
Nasiriya's mayor and police chief, the aide said.
Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia is blamed for much of the sectarian violence in
Iraq.
Nasiriya is located about 175 miles (280 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad.
North of Baghdad, a car bomb detonated at an outdoor market Tuesday evening,
killing 29 people and wounding 47 others, a hospital official said
Wednesday.
The attack happened in Abu Saydah, a predominantly Shiite town about 20
miles (30 kilometers) north of Baquba around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Other developments
. For a second day in a row, an indirect attack Wednesday on Baghdad's
heavily fortified Green Zone has resulted in casualties, a U.S. Embassy
spokesman told CNN. The attack, believed to be a result of mortar fire,
wounded six people inside the Green Zone, spokesman Lou Fintor said, citing
preliminary reports.
. A group of Republican senators uneasy about the level of progress in Iraq
are putting forward an amendment that would force President Bush to tell
Congress how he intends to revise U.S. strategy if the Iraqi government
fails to meet certain benchmarks for progress.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, Arwa Damon, Basim Mahdi and Barbara Starr
contributed to this report.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/16/iraq.main/index.html
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