The U.S. military said on Sunday it had no reason to believe a militant group's claim to have seized two Marines during fighting in Iraq, but said it was doing an inventory of personnel all the same.
There are no indications that al Qaeda claims of having kidnapped two Marines in western Iraq are true," Marines spokesman Major Neil Murphy said in a statement.
"Multi-National Force West is conducting checks to verify all Marines are accounted for," he added.
A statement posted on an Internet site frequently used by al Qaeda in Iraq, one of the country's most feared groups, earlier said:
"Al Qaeda soldiers succeeded in kidnapping two Marines ... Al Qaeda gives the infidels 24 hours to release female Sunni Muslim prisoners ... or they should not bother to look for their children."
The statement was signed with a name that often accompanies the group's announcements, but could not be authenticated.
It said the Marines had been captured during Operation Iron Fist, the latest of several recent offensives by about 1,000 U.S. troops against al Qaeda around the western city of Qaim on the Syrian border.
1 comment:
More Al Qaeda propaganda. I wonder if they'll have to buy two G.I. Joe dolls this time.
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