Condolences

Iraqi officials are reporting that they've recovered the bodies of two US soldiers who were captured in an assault on a checkpoint south of Baghdad.

A spokesman for the American military confirmed in a televised interview that Iraqi forces had found two bodies, but said that they had not been identified.

Ibrahim Obeidi, a spokesman for the Iraqi ministry of defense, said that soldiers had discovered the two bodies early this morning in the village of Jarf as-Sakhr, which is on the outskirts of Yusufiya, where the abduction took place.

On Monday, an Islamic militant group linked to Al Qaeda had said it had captured two American soldiers listed as missing, but it offered no proof, and American military officials remained skeptical.

The two soldiers disappeared Friday night in an ambush southwest of Baghdad, and the military has been searching vigorously in and around Yusufiya with a force of 8,000 American and Iraqi troops.

The captured soldiers were identified by the military on Monday as Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. A third soldier, Specialist David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed when insurgents attacked the three at a traffic checkpoint.

Regarding the search for the two soldiers who have been missing since Friday, a message posted Monday on a Web site of the Council of Holy Warriors, which says it oversees Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and seven other militant groups, said, "Our brothers in the military wing" had seized the soldiers near Yusufiya, the town where the military began its search. "We will provide you with more details on this incident in the next few days," the group said.

My condolences go out to the friends and families of the soldiers who were killed.

And as for the al Qaeda message, I expect that we're supposed to see or hear a video of the executions of the soldiers because that's what al Qaeda does. If we don't get a video, that might suggest that the terrorists didn't have the time or means to produce one and considering the lengths that they went to in order to attack the checkpoint, divide the US forces into two elements and capture the men at the checkpoint, their intent was to create a video for wide release. Otherwise, it was a waste of resources on their part to attack a heavily armed checkpoint in a manner that would reveal more terrorists. The ensuing manhunt could also reveal more insurgent and terrorist cells and that's a risk that the terrorists simply can't deal with on the back of the Zarqawi raids.

UPDATE:
Apparently the bodies of the two soldiers were mutilated and booby trapped.

The bodies also had been desecrated, and a visual identification was impossible -- part of the reason DNA testing was being conducted to verify their identities, the sources said.

A tip from Iraqi civilians led officials to the bodies, military sources told CNN. The discovery was made about 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Not only were the bodies booby-trapped, but homemade bombs also lined the road leading to the victims, an apparent effort to complicate recovery efforts and target recovery teams, the sources said.

It took troops 12 hours to clear the area of roadside bombs. One of the bombs exploded, but there were no injuries.

The terrorists know that US troops don't leave their own behind, and will go to extraordinary lengths to recover those caught by the enemy. The terrorists are showing that they're going to take advantage of that fact, by trying to inflict the maximum number of casualties on those seeking to rescue and recover soldiers caught by the terrorists.