thedrifter
10-24-06, 07:02 AM
Army Translator Missing in Baghdad
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. military spokesman said Tuesday there had been no word on the fate of a U.S. Army solider reported missing in Baghdad, as troops continued door-to-door searches in the central Karradah district.
U.S. and Iraqi forces threw a security cordon around Karradah on Monday night and Iraqis seeking to pass through the downtown area on Tuesday were turned away at roadblocks. Army Kiowa OH-58 reconnaissance helicopters were seen repeatedly circling the area in pairs.
U.S. soldiers patrolling Karradah showed photocopies of the man's photograph to residents in a search for leads.
The missing soldier's name and other personal details have not been officially released, although American troops who raided Baghdad's al-Furat TV on Monday said they were looking for an abducted American officer of Iraqi descent who went to join family members in Karradah.
"We have not heard anything," Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, an American spokesman in Baghdad, said Tuesday.
"We are sure U.S. forces are doing everything they can in the search," Garver said.
A U.S. military official in Washington on Monday said the man was a U.S. Army translator of Iraqi descent who may have been abducted. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not cleared for release.
The last time U.S. soldiers were reported missing was in June, when two soldiers were abducted during an attack on their checkpoint in Baghdad. The soldiers were later found dead, their bodies brutalized, the military said. One of the soldiers had been beheaded.
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for killing the soldiers, and said the successor to terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had "slaughtered" them, according to a Web statement that could not be authenticated.
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. military spokesman said Tuesday there had been no word on the fate of a U.S. Army solider reported missing in Baghdad, as troops continued door-to-door searches in the central Karradah district.
U.S. and Iraqi forces threw a security cordon around Karradah on Monday night and Iraqis seeking to pass through the downtown area on Tuesday were turned away at roadblocks. Army Kiowa OH-58 reconnaissance helicopters were seen repeatedly circling the area in pairs.
U.S. soldiers patrolling Karradah showed photocopies of the man's photograph to residents in a search for leads.
The missing soldier's name and other personal details have not been officially released, although American troops who raided Baghdad's al-Furat TV on Monday said they were looking for an abducted American officer of Iraqi descent who went to join family members in Karradah.
"We have not heard anything," Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, an American spokesman in Baghdad, said Tuesday.
"We are sure U.S. forces are doing everything they can in the search," Garver said.
A U.S. military official in Washington on Monday said the man was a U.S. Army translator of Iraqi descent who may have been abducted. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not cleared for release.
The last time U.S. soldiers were reported missing was in June, when two soldiers were abducted during an attack on their checkpoint in Baghdad. The soldiers were later found dead, their bodies brutalized, the military said. One of the soldiers had been beheaded.
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for killing the soldiers, and said the successor to terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had "slaughtered" them, according to a Web statement that could not be authenticated.
A service of the Associated Press(AP)