The U.S. military has confirmed that the bodies of two missing American soldiers missing since Friday have been found. There was evidence that the soldiers were tortured before they were killed.
The bodies were discovered in the village of Jarf as-Sakhr, which is on the outskirts of Yusufiya, where the G.I.'s were last seen. A force of 8,000 American and Iraqi troops were searching for the missing soldiers.
The two soldiers have been identified by the Pentagon as Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Oregon. A third soldier, Specialist David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was killed when insurgents attacked the three at a traffic checkpoint.
An umbrella group of insurgents which includes al-Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the murder of the two soldiers. In a posting on a Web site which often carries messages from Islamist militants, the Mujahedeen Shura Council announced, 'We give the good news ... to the Islamic nation that we have carried God's verdict by slaughtering the two captured crusaders.' The authenticity of the statement has not yet been verified.
The Arabic term used in the statement, 'nahr' is used to refer to the slaughter or sheep. It implies that the two soldiers were beheaded according to Arabic language experts.
Ken MacKenzie, the uncle of Pfc. Menchaca, spoke on NBC's 'Today' show on Tuesday. 'I think the U.S. was too slow to react to this,' MacKenzie said. 'Because the U.S. did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid with his life.'
Eyewitnesses at the scene said that seven masked men including one carrying a heavy machine gun, took the two Americans captive and killed the third. They were in one of three Humvees at a checkpoint at the time they were assaulted by insurgents.
More than 2,500 Americans have now been killed in Iraq since the American-led invasion began in March 2003.
