Insurgents Responsible For Kidnapping 3 US Soldiers Are Captured

Seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter came under attack Saturday May 12, 2007, during a patrol in a Sunni insurgent stronghold south of Baghdad. Five were killed and three went missing.

Today the US announced that they captured the insurgents responsible for the kidnapping of the 3 US soldiers.

The missing US soldiers from Mahmoudiya (left to right): Alex Jimenez and his wife Yaderlin Jimenez (Via IraqSlogger), Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, and Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr.

The body of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. from California was found in the Euphrates River in Musayyib, south of Baghdad back in May.

The insurgents responsible for kidnapping the 3 US soldiers earlier this year have been captured.
Reuters reported:

Iraqi police and U.S. forces have captured two militants suspected of involvement in the abduction of three U.S. soldiers south of Baghdad earlier this year, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

The soldiers went missing after their patrol was ambushed on May 12 in Mahmudiya in the “Triangle of Death,” an insurgent stronghold south of Baghdad. The body of one of them was pulled from the Euphrates River near Baghdad later in the same month.

Their abduction triggered a massive manhunt in palm groves south of Baghdad in the middle of the deadliest three-month period of the war for U.S. troops. Iraq has since become far quieter, but the incident remains a touchstone for U.S. forces.

The U.S. military said in a statement it caught the two suspects believed to have ties with al Qaeda on Monday and Tuesday in Ramadi in the western province of Anbar.

One of the men was believed to have “facilitated the kidnapping and is reported to have used his residence to aid in the hiding and transport of the captured soldiers,” it said.

Al Qaeda had claimed responsibility for the attack, in which four other U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi translator were killed, but offered no proof that it held the missing soldiers.

The U.S. military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, said in May he believed at least two of the missing soldiers were still alive. The military said in it had detained nine people suspected of involvement during a raid on a building in Amiriya, a Sunni Arab stronghold west of Baghdad.

MNF-I has more on the arrests in Ramadi. The terrorists are thought to be Al-Qaeda members.

The AP reported that a weapon belonging to one of the soldiers was found at the residence of the other suspect.

Back in May General David Petraeus said that he believed that 2 of the missing soldiers were alive:

MORE… The IDs of the two kidnapped soldiers were later found in Samarra without finding their corpses.

Previously:
5 US Soldiers Killed… 3 Missing in Mahmoudiya
Al Qaeda Claims It Is Holding Missing US “Crusader” Soldiers!!
Al Qaeda Says It Will Align Itself With Democrats
Al Qaeda Warns US to Stop Searching For Missing Soldiers
Captured US Soldiers in Iraq Are From Ft. Drum
Pentagon Releases Information on Missing Soldiers
Pentagon: “Reason to Believe” Missing Troops May Be Alive! (Video)
The Search For the Missing US Soldiers Continues
4th Soldier Identified- 3 US Soldiers Still Missing
General Petraeus: At Least 2 Missing US Soldiers Are Alive! (Video)
Body of Missing US Soldier Found in Euphrates River

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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Thanks for sharing!