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Soldiers' bodies found with bomb, military says

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 28, 2006

BAGHDAD - Explosives experts found the bodies of two missing American soldiers tied together with a bomb between one victim's legs after searchers were led to the remains by physical evidence and tips from Iraqis, the military said Tuesday.

But Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, said it was too early in the investigation to comment on whether the soldiers died during an insurgent attack on a U.S. Army checkpoint, or were abducted and killed later.

He also declined to give more details about the June 16 attack that ended with Pfc. Kristian Menchaca of Houston and Pfc. Thomas Tucker of Madras, Ore., missing. Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was found dead at the scene.

The bodies of Menchaca and Tucker were found the evening of June 19. The military said six roadside bombs were dismantled, and explosives experts then found the bodies were booby-trapped.

The bodies were found next to a road near a power plant south of Baghdad, the military said.

The military had said that one U.S. soldier was killed and 12 were wounded during the search. The latest statement, however, said no troops were killed in the operation.

Little progress in Baghdad

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military issued an assessment Tuesday of the Baghdad security crackdown that began two weeks ago, saying violence had decreased slightly but not to "the degree we would like to see" in the two weeks since 75,000 Iraqi and American troops flooded the capital.

The evaluation came as 18 more Iraqis fell victim to sectarian and insurgent violence, including five people whose bodies were found dumped in Baghdad. The U.S. military also announced the deaths of a Marine and three soldiers; three of the deaths were west of the capital in volatile Anbar province.

Also ...

Some 150,000 Iraqis have been displaced in a surge of sectarian violence sparked by the bombing of a Shiite shrine four months ago, the United Nations said Tuesday. The U.N. office in Baghdad said it now estimates that 1.3-million people are displaced in Iraq, about 5 percent of the population of 25-million.

[Last modified June 28, 2006, 02:24:36]