Reuters AlertNet Lite - Attack on U.S. patrol in Iraq, 5 dead, 3 missing

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Attack on U.S. patrol in Iraq, 5 dead, 3 missing

12 May 2007 14:03:32 GMT
Source: Reuters

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Shi'ite cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim (C), the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, speaks during a news conference in Baghdad May 12, 2007. At the right of Hakim is Iraq's Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, while the others are members of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. The Arabic above reads" The higher committee for Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq holds its ninth session". The picture on the mural at left is Hakim's slain brother, Baqir Al-Hakim.
REUTERS/CEERWAN AZIZ

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By Ibon Villelabeitia

BAGHDAD, May 12 (Reuters) - A team of seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter was attacked south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing five and leaving three missing, the U.S. military said.

The attack, one of the worst against American ground forces since a U.S.-backed security crackdown was launched in Baghdad three months ago, took place near the town of Mahmudiya, a rural area that is a stronghold of al Qaeda militants.

U.S. spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said it was not immediately clear if the Iraqi army translator was among the dead or missing.

"This morning at 4:44 a.m. (0044 GMT) in Iraq, a coalition force team of eight soldiers (seven Americans and an Iraqi army interpreter), were attacked 12 miles west of Mahmudiya. As a result of this attack, five soldiers were killed in action and three are currently missing," a U.S. military statement said.

Last June, al Qaeda militants abducted two U.S. soldiers in the same area in an attack in which a third U.S. soldier was killed. Their mutilated and bobby-trapped bodies were found days later.

Following Saturday's attack, U.S. forces set up checkpoints in and around Mahmudiya, a rural district of palm groves.

Helicopters, unmanned drones and airplanes were taking part in the search for the missing soldiers, the military said.

"Coalition forces are currently using every means at our disposal to find the missing Soldiers, and we will continue these efforts until all are accounted for," the statement quoted Major-General William Caldwell, chief military spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, as saying.

Caldwell said a rapid-reaction force was dispatched to the area one hour after hearing an explosion.

"The quick reaction force reported finding five members of the team killed in action and three others whose duty status and whereabouts are unknown," Caldwell said.

The attack comes at a time when U.S. President George W. Bush is facing increasing pressure from Democrats to set timetables for withdrawing American troops in a war that has killed more than 3,300 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis since the invasion in 2003.

The Baghdad offensive, seen as a last-ditch attempt to halt Iraq's slide into all-out civil war between majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs, has reduced sectarian murders in the capital but has also driven militants outlying areas.

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Last updated:Sat May 12 14:04:49 2007