After Finding Body of 1 Soldier, Military Continues Search for 2 Missing Comrades

May 24, 02:50 PM

Current Headlines: By Ravi Nessman Associated Press

BAGHDAD -- Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops fanned out across the fields of southern Iraq in scorching temperatures Thursday as the military said it remained determined to find two missing U.S. soldiers after the body of a third was pulled from a river.

Also Thursday, a car bomb targeting a funeral procession in the turbulent city of Fallujah killed at least 26 people, police and medical officials said.

The military confirmed that the body found Wednesday in the Euphrates River south of Baghdad was that of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., of Torrance, Calif., who had been missing since militants ambushed his unit nearly two weeks ago.

A commanding officer identified the remains recovered from the river, but DNA tests were still pending, military officials told Anzack's family.

"They told us, 'We're sorry to inform you the body we found has been identified as Joe,"' said the soldier's aunt, Debbie Anzack. "I'm in disbelief."

Anzack, 20, vanished along with the two other soldiers after their combat team was ambushed May 12 about 20 miles outside Baghdad. Five others, including an Iraqi, were killed in the ambush, subsequently claimed by al-Qaida.

The attack triggered a massive search operation in the area south of Baghdad known as the triangle of death for the insurgent activity there.

On Thursday, soldiers proceeded with their mission, despite Anzack's death. One unit searched chicken coops and trudged through mud, canals and tall reeds in the brutal heat.

"The search continues," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman.

Members of Anzack's platoon choked back tears at news of his death and said they would not stop looking for the other two missing soldiers.

"We can't leave them behind. I just hope that they have enough faith to keep them going. What they're going through right now, I can't imagine," said Pfc. Sammy Rhodes, 25, of Albuquerque, N.M.

Spc. Daniel Seitz, 22, of Pensacola, Fla., said he was trying to stay strong and push ahead with the search.

"It just angers me that it's just another friend I've got to lose and deal with, because I've already lost 13 friends since I've been here and I don't know if I can take any more of this," he said.

Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle denied reports that a second body had been found and was being examined to determine if it was that of another of the missing soldiers. "The reports of a second set of remains being found is a false report," the spokeswoman said.

The U.S. military also said two U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday during combat operations in Iraq's volatile Anbar province. Those deaths, along with the deaths of nine other troopers announced Wednesday, brought the American death toll for the month to at least 82. Last month, 104 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq.

The increase in U.S. deaths come at a difficult moment for Washington, where the Bush administration and congressional Democrats have been wrangling for weeks on how long American troops should stay.

On Thursday, President Bush said he supports a $120 billion Iraq war spending bill on track to pass Congress later in the day. The bill funds the war through September as Bush wanted and does not set a date for troop withdrawals. In exchange for dropping restrictions on the military, Bush agreed to some $17 billion in spending added by Democrats to fund domestic and military-related projects.

"By voting for this bill, members of both parties can show our troops and the Iraqis and the enemy that our country will support our service men and women in harm's way," Bush said in a Rose Garden news conference.

While the measure does not include a timetable on the war, it does threaten to withhold U.S. aid dollars for Iraq if Baghdad fails to make progress on political and security reforms. The president, however, could waive that restriction.

Bush said Iraq's ability to meet the benchmarks outlined in the bill would be difficult.

"It's going to be hard work for this young government," he said. "After all, the Iraqis are recovering from decades of brutal dictatorship."

In other violence, a parked car bomb exploded Thursday morning in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, as a funeral procession passed by for a man who worked against al-Qaida in Iraq.

The blast killed 26 people and wounded 45 others, police and medical officials said. The funeral was being held for Alaa Zuwaid, a 60-year-old restaurant owner who was part of a tribe that had formed an alliance with other tribal leaders against al-Qaida.

Zuwaid was killed earlier Thursday when unknown militants shot him in front of his house, police said. His 25-year-old son was killed by militants nearly a month ago as he walked down the street.

On the outskirts of Baghdad, gunmen ambushed a minibus near the Shiite-dominated district of al-Hussainya, killing 11 passengers, police said. The attackers then planted a bomb on the bus, which blew up when police arrived, injuring four of them, police said.

A suicide bomber detonated a bomb aboard another minibus driving through Baghdad, killing three civilians and injuring eight others, police said.

In Sulaiman Bek, 75 miles south of the northern city of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb an Iraqi police convoy killed six police officers Thursday morning, Iraqi police said.

Nationwide, at least 104 people were killed in sectarian violence or found dead Wednesday, including 32 who died in suicide bombings.

Insurgents in Baghdad also attacked a convoy of U.S. diplomats and their military escort with small arms fire on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

Apache helicopters fired at several of the armed attackers, the military said. U.S. troops then arrived to secure the area and allow the convoy to leave, the military said.

Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces have been involved in the search for the soldiers ambushed and captured May 12.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said the remains, later identified as those of Anzack, were recovered by Iraqi police.

Witnesses said police using civilian boats searched for other bodies on the river in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, and U.S. troops intensified their presence on a nearby bridge as helicopters flew overhead, witnesses said.

Hassan al-Jibouri, 32, said he saw the body with head wounds and whip marks on its back floating on the river Wednesday. He and others then alerted police.

The remaining missing soldiers are Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich.

At Jimenez's father's home, a yellow ribbon also was tied on the front door. Ramon Jimenez, who speaks Spanish, said through a translator in a cell phone conversation that he has been helped by the support of friends and family.

"The hope is very high that God is going to give Alex back to him," said Wendy Luzon, a family friend who translated and has been serving as a spokeswoman.

AP writers Maya Alleruzzo in Youssifiyah, Iraq, Lolita Baldor in Washington, Glen Johnson in Lawrence, Mass., David Aguilar in Commerce Township, Mich., and Jeremiah Marquez in Torrance, Calif., contributed to this report.

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