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Insurgent group says it captured, killed U.S. troops

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A terror group with links to al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility Sunday for the weekend attack that sparked a manhunt for three missing U.S. soldiers, according to a statement on the Internet.
Islamic State of Iraq -- an umbrella insurgent group that includes al Qaeda in Iraq -- said in the statement that it fought Saturday with "Crusader" forces in a "blessed operation," killing some and taking others prisoner. It was unclear from the statement if the captured soldiers were alive.
The posting thanked Allah for "the help and accurate targeting" and said further details about the attack would be released later.
Though the posting appeared on Web sites commonly used by the group -- and such statements in the past have rung true -- CNN is unable to verify the authenticity of the claim.
Five personnel were killed in the Saturday ambush south of Baghdad, including three U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter, military spokesman Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said Sunday. The fifth person has not been identified. (Watch the dangers troops face in the "Triangle of Death" )
About 4,000 troops fanned out across the volatile region Sunday to search for the missing members of the U.S.-led military patrol.
Attackers struck the team of seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter early Saturday, the military said. (Watch a general explain how the troops were killed, captured )
U.S. forces are using "every means" in their search for the missing troops, who are listed as duty status whereabouts unknown, Caldwell said.
"We have a soldier's creed that says, 'I will never leave a fallen comrade,' " Caldwell said. "We believe in this deeply and still make every effort available to find our three missing soldiers."
Checkpoints have been established throughout the region and aircraft including helicopters, drones and jets have been deployed in the search.
The predawn attack occurred 12 miles west of Mahmoudiya, a city south of the capital in a region that has been nicknamed the Triangle of Death. (Map)
About 4:44 a.m., a nearby unit heard explosions and attempted in vain to establish communications. Fifteen minutes later, a drone aircraft spotted two burning vehicles, according to a U.S. military statement.
Forty U.S. troops have been killed this month in Iraq. The number of U.S. military personnel killed during the Iraq war stands at 3,384. Seven civilian contractors also have been killed.
Sunday's search is reminiscent of the hunt last June for two soldiers who were seized at a checkpoint in Yusufiya.
The two also were listed as duty status whereabouts unknown until their bodies were found three days later.
Dozens killed in bombings
Two vehicle bombs in Iraq -- one in a small market, the other outside a mayoral office -- killed at least 55 people Sunday, government sources said.
The deadliest of Sunday's bombings killed 43 people and wounded 115 more when a suicide truck bomb erupted in northern Iraq, local health officials and a Kurdistan government spokesman said. (Watch how the rural offices fell victim to the blast )
The brunt of the blast destroyed the Kurdistan Democratic Party building that houses the mayor's office in the town of Makhmoor, the spokesman said. Makhmoor is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Mosul. It is located near the borders of Irbil and Nineveh provinces, just outside the Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq.
The bomb exploded at a gas station, damaging several other local government offices, the Makhmoor police chief told Iraqi state TV.
The blast erupted as local officials from various nearby towns held a meeting, a KDP official said. It is unclear if the officials were among the dead and wounded.
The wounded were rushed to area hospitals. Hospital officials in Irbil said they received at least 12 dead people and at least 60 with injuries. At least 50 people were hospitalized at Mosul General Hospital, but there was no breakdown of the casualties.
The attack comes four days after at least 12 people were killed and 50 were wounded when a truck bomb exploded outside an Interior Ministry office in Irbil in northern Iraq, according to a Kurdish Coalition spokesman. Also, last month, suicide bombers targeted KDP offices in Zamar and Tal Iskuf, killing more than a dozen people.
The KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan are the two major Kurdish political movements in Iraq.
Another Sunday blast at a market in central Baghdad killed 12 people and wounded 41 more, an Interior Ministry official said.
Three policemen were among the dead and four police officer were wounded in the attack, the official said.
The bomb detonated at al-Wathab Square, the entrance to Baghdad's Sadriya and Shorja markets. The square is often crowded with cars because it is the closest point to which vehicles can travel around the markets, which are closed to traffic because of past bombings. The crowded markets are now surrounded by blast walls.
Sadriya market was the target of an attack last month that killed 140 people -- the worst bombing in the capital since the war began.
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.

posted by mhai @ 9:19 AM