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One soldier likely beheaded, U.S. military says
 At least one and possibly both of the soldiers who were mutilated and killed in Iraq last weekend was beheaded, a U.S. military official said Wednesday. The description by the official, who was in Washington, confirmed fears raised by other U.S. and Iraqi officials who have said the men's bodies showed signs of brutal treatment. The official requested anonymity because the final report on the bodies' conditions has not been formally released.On Tuesday, after Iraqi officials disclosed that the bodies were found, the Shura Council posted a web statement saying that the successor to slain Iraqi al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had slaughtered the soldiers. The language in the statement, which could not be authenticated, suggested the group was saying the men were beheaded. The remains of the two soldiers were expected to arrive Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for DNA testing to positively identify them. The bodies are believed to be of Private 1st Class Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Private 1st Class Thomas Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. The two soldiers disappeared after an insurgent attack at a checkpoint by a Euphrates River canal, 20 kilometres south of Baghdad, that killed another U.S. soldier. The U.S. military recovered the bodies Tuesday in an area it said was rigged with explosives. It took troops roughly 12 hours to get to the bodies, said a second U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have yet to be released. An Iraqi official said the Americans were tortured and killed in a barbaric way.
Posted by: Fred 2006-06-22 |
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