Note that a post on an Islamist forum yesterday claimed that two of the
soldiers had been found dead....
/C
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/23/iraq.main/index.html
U.S. checking if body found in river is missing soldier
Story Highlights
. NEW: U.S. military representative is en route to determine body's identity
. Body of "Western" man apparently wearing U.S. uniform pulled from river
. No confirmation if body is that of one of three missing U.S. soldiers
. Suicide bomber kills 22 in Shiite Kurdish town near the Iranian border
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi police found the body of what they said was a
Western-looking man, apparently dressed in U.S. military uniform, floating
in the Euphrates River south of Baghdad on Wednesday, an official said.
The body was handed over to U.S. military authorities, who have been
searching since May 12 for three U.S. soldiers missing after an attack on an
observation post near Mahmoudiya in an area known as the Triangle of Death.
An American military source in Iraq said the body was wearing U.S.
military-issued pants. (Watch the scene where the body was found
<javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/world/2007/05/23/damon.body.found.in.ira
q.ap','2009/05/22');>
<javascript:cnnVideo('play','javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/world/2007/0
5/23/damon.body.found.in.iraq.ap','2009/05/22');','2007/05/23');> Video)
A representative from the missing soldiers' unit is headed to the location
to determine the body's identity, according to a U.S. military spokesman.
An official told CNN on Monday that military commanders believe at least two
of the missing soldiers are alive and being held by an al Qaeda-affiliated
group.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told reporters that if the body turns out to be
one of the missing soldiers, his family will be notified before any public
announcement is made.
According to an Interior Ministry official, Iraqi civilians saw a body
floating down the Euphrates River and notified police in Mussayab.
Witnesses said the man looked "Western" and had a tattoo on his left arm. He
had gunshot wounds to the head and torso.
Mussayab is about 22 miles (35 kilometers) south of Mahmoudiya, where a team
of seven U.S. service members and an Iraqi soldier were attacked. Four U.S.
soldiers were killed and three remain missing. The Iraqi soldier also died
in the attack. (Interactive: Details about ambushed soldiers
<javascript:CNN_openPopup('/interactive/us/0705/gallery.ambushed.soldiers/fr
ameset.exclude.html','620x430','toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status
=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,width=620,height=430');> )
Dozens have been rounded up in the hunt for the missing men, and a canal was
drained Saturday.
Suicide bomber kills at least 22
A suicide bomber detonated explosives Wednesday in a cafe in a Diyala
province town, killing at least 22 people and wounding 40 others, an Iraq
Interior Ministry official said.
The bombing occurred in Mandali, a Shiite Kurdish town near the Iranian
border. Diyala is north and east of Baghdad.
A car bomb also exploded Wednesday in an outdoor market south of Baghdad,
killing three people and wounding 15 others, police in Hilla said. The blast
occurred in Ajbala, 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Hilla, in Babil
province.
Meanwhile, Iraqi soldiers and gunmen exchanged fire Wednesday in Baghdad's
Sinak commercial district, a 30-minute clash that left four people dead and
18 others wounded. An Interior Ministry official said most of the casualties
were civilians.
Two militants die in Sadr City raid
In Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, U.S.-led coalition forces killed two
alleged militants, detained 19 others and seized "a cache of Iranian money
and bomb-making materials" during a raid, according to a U.S. military news
release.
The statement said the raid in the Shiite-dominated area targeted a person
"suspected of facilitating weapons shipments from Iran to secret cell
terrorist elements in Baghdad, Basra and Maysan province." Basra and Maysan
are Shiite locations in southern Iraq.
For months, the U.S. military has said that armor-piercing bombs used by
militants in Iraq originate in the Shiite nation of Iran.
The two militants killed in the raid were slain in an engagement between
coalition forces and "four armed terrorists," the statement said.
At least nine U.S. troops killed
At least nine U.S. service members were killed in combat and by bombs across
Iraq on Tuesday and six were wounded, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
During May, 81 U.S. military personnel have died, bringing the total since
the war began to 3,432, including seven civilian employees of the Defense
Department.
Other developments
* A parked truck loaded with vegetables exploded Tuesday in an outdoor
market in Baghdad, killing at least 25 people and wounding 60 others, the
Interior Ministry said. The attack crushed buildings and sparked fires,
according to The Associated Press. Men were seen carrying bodies from
damaged buildings, the AP reported, while residents rifled through rubble,
frantically searching for survivors. (Watch smoke, fire and rescues
immediately after the
<javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/world/2007/05/22/vo.baghdad.bomb.reut','
2009/05/21');> blast
<javascript:cnnVideo('play','javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/world/2007/0
5/22/vo.baghdad.bomb.reut','2009/05/21');','2007/05/23');> Video)
* Also Tuesday, mortar fire killed four college students in the
northern Baghdad neighborhood of Adhamiya -- a volatile, mostly Sunni
district. Adhamiya has been the target of Shiite militias in the past.
Twenty-seven people were wounded in the attack, which struck al-Haitham
College of Education, Baghdad police said.
* A second deadly attack in the northern part of the capital also
targeted college students. Gunmen opened fire on a minibus in the Waziriya
district, killing eight students, police said. Three others were wounded in
the attack. Police didn't say whether the students were Shiite or Sunni
Muslims or what college they attended.
CNN's Arwa Damon and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press
<http://edition.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#AP> contributed to this
report.
<http://images.clickability.com/pti/spacer.gif>
Find this article at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/23/iraq.main/index.html
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