Families Await DNA Tests On GIs
Al Qaeda Statement Says New Iraq Terror Leader 'Slaughtered' Missing Soldiers
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Play CBS Video Video Report: Iraqis Killed Soldiers A new investigation reveals that soldiers Patrick McCaffrey and Andre Tyson were not ambushed as initially reported in 2004. They were killed by Iraqis on patrol with them, reports Rene Syler.
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Video U.S. Soldiers' Bodies Found The bodies of two American soldiers who had been kidnapped by al Qaeda in Iraq were found. As Lee Cowan reports, they were laid out as lures in a booby trap.
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Video McCain On Soldiers' Deaths Only On The Web: Bob Schieffer spoke to Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, about the latest developments in Iraq, including the deaths of two U.S. soldiers who may have been tortured.
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Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, left, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)
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Six flags fly in the front yard of Army Pfc. Thomas Lowell Tucker's home in Madras, Ore., June 19, 2006. (AP)
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Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell briefs the press in Baghdad about the search for two missing U.S. soldiers, June 17, 2006. (AP Photo)
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Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
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Interactive Held Hostage Details on foreign workers and soldiers captured by insurgents in Iraq.
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Who's Who Iraq Insurgency More on the militant groups behind the insurgency in Iraq and their motivations.
The discovery of the remains followed a massive search effort by some 8,000 Iraqi and U.S. troops after the two men went missing Friday near the town of Youssifiyah in the volatile Sunni Triangle south of Baghdad.
Caldwell said one U.S. soldier died and 12 others were wounded during the search effort, while two insurgents had been killed and 78 were detained as coalition forces received 66 tips, 18 that were considered worthy of follow-up.
The director of the Iraqi defense ministry's operation room, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, also said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured. "With great regret, they were killed in a barbaric way," he said.
The claim of responsibility was made in the name of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of five insurgent groups led by al Qaeda in Iraq. The group posted an Internet statement Monday claiming it was holding the American soldiers captive.
"We give the good news... to the Islamic nation that we have carried God's verdict by slaughtering the two captured crusaders," said the claim, which appeared on an Islamic militant Web site where insurgent groups regularly post statements and videos.
"With God Almighty's blessing, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer carried out the verdict of the Islamic court" calling for the soldiers' slaying, the statement said.
The statement said the soldiers were "slaughtered," suggesting that al-Muhajer beheaded them. The Arabic word used in the statement, "nahr," is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.
The U.S. military has identified al-Muhajer as an Egyptian associate of al-Zarqawi also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
The killings would be the first acts of violence attributed to al-Muhajer since he was named al Qaeda in Iraq's new leader in a June 12 Web message by the group. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike on June 7.
Al-Zarqawi made al Qaeda in Iraq notorious for hostage beheadings and was believed to have killed two American captives himself — Nicholas Berg in April 2004 and Eugene Armstrong in September 2004.
Kidnappings of U.S. service members have been rare since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, despite the presence of about 130,000 forces.
The last U.S. soldier to be captured was Sgt. Keith M. Maupin of Batavia, Ohio, who was taken on April 9, 2004 after insurgents ambushed his fuel convoy. Two months later, a tape on Al-Jazeera purported to show a captive U.S. soldier shot, but the Army ruled it was inconclusive and remains listed as missing.
Caldwell said that in addition to the two soldiers, a dozen Americans — including Maupin and 11 private citizens — are missing in Iraq.
©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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