Arrests as US troops 'abducted'

Guerrilla attacks are a new challenge to US troops

US forces have arrested three people as they conduct intensive searches for two American soldiers believed to have been abducted north of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

The two servicemen vanished with their vehicle, weapons and gear on Wednesday near the town of Balad. There was blood at the scene.

If confirmed, the abduction would mark yet another style of attack on the American and British forces occupying the country, says the BBC's Richard Galpin in Baghdad.

The incident is the latest in a growing wave of ambushes against US targets that have resulted in the deaths of at least 16 soldiers since 1 May, when President George W Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq over.

"We don't know if they were abducted or they were just killed

Sergeant Patrick Compton
US military spokesman

The trend appeared to continue on Friday with a US soldier reportedly shot in the face in a Baghdad store. His condition was not immediately known.

In the past two days alone, incidents have included:

• One American military policeman killed while investigating a car theft near the southern town of Najaf

• Clashes south-west of the Iraqi capital leaving a US soldier dead and eight wounded

• Assailants blowing up a US military vehicle with a roadside bomb

• A rocket-propelled grenade attack on US vehicles travelling towards the airport, killing the Iraqi driver of a US vehicle.

• Demolition of an oil pipeline

On Tuesday, six British military police were killed in southern Iraq after trouble erupted during weapons searches.

Fedayeen link

Despite the intensive ground and aerial searches, the military vehicle the soldiers were using has not been located, US military spokesman Sergeant Patrick Compton said.

"We don't know if they were abducted or they were just killed," Sergeant Compton told the Associated Press news agency.

Another US spokesman said intelligence officials suspected Fedayeen militia may have abducted the two soldiers.

US troops speak of increasing incidents of 'sabotage'

"They believe Fedayeen were using [the vehicle], trying to get close to Americans... to probably conduct another terrorist attack against them," Major Robert Twinner told French news agency AFP.

"We have no status on the soldiers at this time, we haven't found them but we will find them," he said.

The Fedayeen militia loyal to Saddam Hussein put up strong resistance to US and British forces who invaded Iraq in March.

In addition to the ambushes, our correspondent in Baghdad says, there appears to be a campaign of sabotage, targeting the country's oil pipelines.

The US and Britain may have removed Saddam Hussein from power, he adds, but they do not have Iraq fully under their control, as they had expected.

And the latest casualty in Najaf is significant as it shows that resistance against the occupying forces is extending to Shia-dominated parts of the country that have been traditionally against Saddam Hussein, our correspondent says.