Hunt On For Missing U.S. Troops in Iraq

Associated Press, BAGHDAD ~ Massive air, house-to-house hunt for 3 soldiers after Al Qaeda group in Iraq says it captured the Americans. An Al Qaeda front group announced yesterday it had captured American soldiers in a deadly weekend attack, as thousands of U.S. troops searched insurgent areas south of Baghdad for their three missing comrades.

The statement from the group came on one of the deadliest days in Iraq in recent weeks, with at least 126 people killed or found dead. A suicide truck bomb tore through the offices of a Kurdish political party in northern Iraq, killing 50 people, and a car bombing in a Baghdad market killed another 17.
U.S. Maj.-Gen. William Caldwell said 4,000 U.S. troops backed by aircraft and intelligence units were scouring the farming area as the military made "every effort available to find our missing soldiers. Full story.

+ Gunfight breaks out at meeting involving U.S., Afghan and Pakistani soldiers in Pakistan on Monday, and a number of soldiers were killed and wounded

+ Making a Case for Iraqi Progress, in the U.S.
+ Hicks Pleads Guilty to Supporting Terrorism
+ Wounded Iraqi Forces Get Little or No Aid
+ Rift Appears Among Iraq Insurgent Groups
+ Is the Iraq Surge Strategy Working?

+ Strike paralyses Karachi, Pakistan
+ Afghans, Pakistanis skirmish
+ Bomb hits NATO vehicle in Afghanistan
+ Spain to send 14 officers to Afghanistan police mission

+ Canadian Muslim was on suicide mission: Afghanistan
+ 55 Taliban militants killed in E Afghanistan


Camp Nathan Smith, Kandahar ~ A member of the Royal 22e Régiment, presently deployed as the Force Protection (FP) Company for the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team (KPRT), provides security in a village outside of Kandahar City, Afghanistan. The FP Company provides a security perimeter so members of the Civil Military Co-operation (CIMIC) team can work to assess a village’s needs.

The KPRT is an integral part of the Joint Task Force Afghanistan (JTF-AFG), which is Canada’s military contribution to Afghanistan. Canadian operations will focus on working with Afghan authorities to improve security, governance and economic development. About 2500 members of the Canadian Forces (CF) are currently serving as part of TF-AFG. They play a key role in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force mission whose goal is to improve the security situation in Afghanistan and assist in rebuilding the country. Photo by Sgt Roxanne Clowe, Canadian Forces Combat Camera