BAGHDAD, Iraq – The intelligence was grim: The bodies of three missing U.S. soldiers had been dumped in a canal. So U.S. and Iraqi forces, in the midst of one of the biggest manhunts since the war began, drained the 20-foot-deep canal until the water was knee-deep. They found no bodies.
“That shows you the level of detail we’re going through to find our missing soldiers,” said Maj Gen. Rick Lynch, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, on Wednesday. “We’re very optimistic that our soldiers are still alive and we’ll find them alive.”
Using high-tech and low-tech methods, 4,000 U.S. and 2,000 Iraqi soldiers on Wednesday continued the search for the three soldiers, missing since a pre-dawn attack on Saturday, 12 miles west of the town of Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad. Four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi Army interpreter were killed in the attack in the rural area, an al-Qaida and Sunni insurgent stronghold dubbed the Triangle of Death.
The U.S. military is distributing leaflets offering up to $200,000 for any information on the whereabouts of the soldiers, all from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division in Ft. Drum, N.Y.
Lynch, the commanding general for areas south of Baghdad, said more than 600 people have been detained for “tactical questioning” in the hope of acquiring more leads. Out of 143 intelligence reports, 37 separate operations were launched. Meanwhile, specialists were scouring dozens of hours of video and satellite imagery of the area.
As the operation unfolded in the south, 10 mortars pounded the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government buildings, killing two people and wounding 10, said U.S. officials. Dozens of pedestrians ran for cover and drivers abandoned their cars as sirens wailed.
The dead, as well as most of the injured, were Iraqis, said Lou Fintor, a U.S. Embassy spokesman, adding there were no American casualties. The attacks, occurring around 4 p.m., came a day after a rocket assault wounded nine people Tuesday. A mortar attack on May 3, killed four Asian contractors.
North of Baqouba, a car bomb exploded Tuesday night in the mostly Shiite area of Abu Saida that killed 45, and wounded another 80, said Lt. Mohammad Hak, a police official in Diyala Province. Local officials said the chlorine may have been used in the attack, but added the matter was still being investigated.
Including the Abu Saida attack and those killed Wednesday, 83 people died violently across Iraq, according to police sources.
In the mostly Shiite city of Nasiriyah, Iraqi security forces battled Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, following the arrest of two of the militia’s members, said police. Two people died and five were injured in the clashes.
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