US military kills 11 Mahdi Army members

US TROOPS killed 11 members of a Mahdi army splinter group yesterday, US officials said. The military also announced that it had detained two more suspects in the capture of three US soldiers earlier this year.

One of the suspects is thought to have “facilitated” the kidnapping of the American soldiers taken during a May ambush near Youssifiyah, about 19km south of Baghdad, and to have used his house to hide the soldiers, the military said in a statement.

A weapon belonging to one of the soldiers was found at the residence of the other suspect. The men were detained on Monday and Tuesday in Ramadi, the military said.

Alex Jimenez of Massachusetts, and Byron Fouty of Michigan, were seized on May 12 when insurgents attacked and overran a checkpoint in the volatile area south of Baghdad known as the “triangle of death”.

A third soldier, Joseph Anzack, of California, also was captured during the raid and his body was found May 23 floating in the Euphrates. Four US soldiers and an Iraqi soldier were killed during the ambush.

The Islamic State of Iraq, a front group for al-Qaida, claimed in an internet video earlier this year that the three missing soldiers were killed and buried. The militants showed images of the military IDs of Jimenez and Fouty but offered no proof that they were dead.

US officials have said they have detained about a dozen suspects in connection with the soldiers’ disappearance.

Yesterday’s fighting took place in the early morning hours in Kut, 160km south-east of Baghdad, a local police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

It was not immediately clear if the US raid on the splinter militia members would impact a six-month freeze on activities that the Mahdi army leader — radical Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — called in August and has signalled in the past week he might extend.

In the past, Mr al-Sadr said that any Mahdi army members who do not abide by his freeze would no longer be considered members of the militia.