Troops cast wider net in Iraq search

BAGHDAD -- Two of the three US soldiers missing since a May 12 ambush south of Baghdad are believed to have been alive as recently as two days ago, but the third might be dead, the military said yesterday as it broadened its search for the men.

The soldiers have been the focus of a huge dragnet by US troops, who have detained more than 700 people for questioning in and around Yusifiya, a market town 10 miles south of the capital.

Army General David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, expressed optimism that at least two of them were still alive a week after their outpost was ambushed in the region known as Triangle of Death.

But he said the military still does not know definitively the fate of the missing men, Specialist Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.; Private First Class Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, Calif.; and Private Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich.

"As of this morning, we thought there were at least two that were probably still alive," Petraeus told the Army Times in an interview Friday night.

He said information obtained from the detainees and other sources has provided a clearer picture of the ambush carried out on the soldiers from the Army's 10th Mountain Division.

Petraeus told the Army newspaper that the military had identified the person chiefly responsible for the abduction of the three men and the killing of four other soldiers and a translator. "We know who that guy is," the commander said. "He's sort of an affiliate of Al Qaeda."

He said an informant provided the names of those who took part in the raid and kidnapping, but they were still at large.

"We've had all kinds of tips down there. We just tragically haven't found the individuals," he said.

As the hunt for the men continued yesterday, the military announced the deaths of five other soldiers, the corpses of 55 Iraqis were found across the country, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a lightning visit that was marred by violence.

The military said no one has contacted authorities to provide any proof that the missing soldiers are alive or to try to negotiate terms for their release.

Officials would not reveal the source of information for Petraeus's remarks.

US and Iraqi troops jumped across ditches and waded through mud in high temperatures and difficult terrain yesterday on the eighth day of a hunt for missing soldiers.

The search for the men involves some 4,000 troops who "will not stop searching until we find our soldiers," said Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver, a US military spokesman in Baghdad. "We're using all available assets and continuing to assault the Al Qaeda in Iraq network," he said.

Acting on a tip, Garver said troops raided a building in Amiriyah yesterday and captured nine Iraqis suspected of involvement in the attack. Amiriyah is a stronghold of Sunni insurgents with close tribal ties to Quarghuli, where the outpost was overrun.

In the latest deadly attack against US forces, one soldier was killed and three were wounded yesterday when their patrol was struck by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad.

The military announced the deaths of four other soldiers who were killed Friday. One was struck by small-arms fire south of Baghdad, another was killed in combat in Anbar province, and two others were killed by a roadside bomb and small-arms fire in northwest Baghdad. The deaths raise the number of US forces killed in Iraq to 3,414, according to the Associated Press.

Northeast of Baghdad yesterday, gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms massacred 15 Kurdish villagers, Iraqi government officials said.

In various cities menaced by sectarian death squads, dozens of corpses were found on the streets yesterday with signs of torture and execution-style shootings . Twenty-one were found in Diyala province, 20 in Baghdad, seven in Khalus and seven in Muradiya.

A mortar shell landed in the capital's Green Zone as Blair, who leaves office next month crippled by the unpopularity of the war, paid a visit yesterday. The attack slightly injured an Iraqi.

In a news conference, Blair said good news in the country was being obscured by disproportionate attention paid to the car bombs, mortar fire, and attacks.

Blair repeated that he saw "real signs of change and progress" in Iraq but declined to be specific, deferring to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki when he was challenged by reporters.

The Iraqi leader cited Anbar province, where Sunni sheiks have lent their support to the US-Iraqi security plan for the region, and Kurdistan in the north, where he said the number of car bombs has dropped "from 10 to 14 before, and to two to three a day now."

Maliki acknowledged that the violence in the country remains extreme, and he blamed extremists "being financed from abroad and those who want this government fail."

Behind closed doors, Maliki told Blair that he was concerned specifically about support being offered to militants from sources in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states, according to a source privy to the talks.

Maliki also brought up concerns that other political powers might be working toward a coup in Iraq, but Blair reassured him that neither Britain nor the United States would support such a move, the source said.

Britain has almost completed the process of pulling about 1,600 troops out of Iraq, leaving a force of around 5,500 based mainly on the fringes of the southern city of Basra, which Blair also visited yesterday .

Blair vowed that British involvement in Iraq would continue after his departure.

Northeast of the capital, there was more gruesome Iraqi-on-Iraqi killing. Men in Iraqi army uniforms rousted Kurdish villagers from their homes, separated out the able-bodied men, and shot 15 to death, according to an Iraqi general and a Kurdish political party.

It was the latest episode in months of sectarian killings in lawless Diyala province and officials said yesterday that the local army commander was fired by the government.

In the week since the attack in Quarghuli, about two dozen US troops have been killed in Iraq. Five deaths were announced yesterday, four of which occurred on Friday.

Those numbers were eclipsed by the number of Iraqis killed yesterday alone.

Twenty bodies were found yesterday around Baghdad. Police said they were all men, handcuffed, blindfolded, shot.

All but three were found on the Sunni Muslim side of city. At least 93 people were killed or found dead nationwide yesterday.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.