Military confirm recovery of US troops' bodies
A senior Iraqi military official today said the bodies of two missing US soldiers had been discovered on a street near the town where they went missing.
A US military officer said two bodies had been found, but had not yet been identified.
Maj. Frank Garcia, public affairs officer of the 2nd Brigade, 101 Airborne Division, said two bodies had been found.
“There were two bodies found, but they are still going through the process of determining whether they are the missing soldiers or not,” he said. “There was some human remains that were found. Two bodies.”
Pt. Kristian Menchaca (aged 23) of Houston, Texas, and Pt. Thomas Tucker (aged 25) of Madras, Oregon, went missing on Friday at a traffic checkpoint near the town of Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad.
Another servicemen David Babineau (aged 25) of Springfield, Massachusetts, was killed in the attack near a Euphrates River canal not far from the town, 12 miles south of Baghdad.
All were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, the director of the defence ministry’s operation room, said they were found on a street near Youssifiyah. US. Maj. Doug Powell said he could not confirm the report.
“The news is going to be heartbreaking for my family,” Ken MacKenzie, Menchaca’s uncle told NBC’s Today show.
He said the United States should have paid a ransom from money seized from Saddam Hussein.
“I think the US was too slow to react to this. Because the US did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid with his life.”
The Sunni Arab region, also known as the Triangle of Death, is the site of frequent ambushes of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops.
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