Very bad news:BAGHDAD — Seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter were attacked early Saturday while patrolling a Sunni insurgent area south of Baghdad, leaving five dead and three missing, the U.S. military said. The military refused to specify whether the Iraqi interpreter was among those killed or among the missing, citing security.
Troops were searching for the missing, using drone planes, jets and checkpoints throughout the area, according to the statement. Soldiers were also asking local leaders for information.
The attack occurred at 4:44 a.m. about 12 miles west of Mahmoudiya, the military said, adding that nearby units heard explosions and a drone plane observed two burning vehicles 15 minutes later. Mahmoudiya is about 20 miles south of Baghdad in an area known as the Triangle of Death because of frequent insurgent attacks.
Troops who arrived at the scene about an hour after the attack found five of the soldiers dead. The other three members of the patrol were gone, according to the statement, from Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq. "Make no mistake: We will never stop looking for our soldiers until their status is definitively determined, and we continue to pray for their safe return," Caldwell said.
An Iraqi army officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to disclose the information, also said joint U.S.-Iraqi forces were conducting house-to-house searches in the area and all roads to Mahmoudiya had been closed.
The attack occurred nearly a year after two American soldiers went missing following a June 16 attack in the same area, prompting a massive search. Their bodies were found tied together with a bomb between one victim's legs several days later.
The soldiers kidnapped and butchered last year were Privates Kristian Menchaca and Tommy Tucker. It is my understanding that many here saw the terrorist demons' video of their bodies. Never forgive, never forget.