.U.S. Soldier Missing in Iraq After Blast
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A U.S. soldier was missing Friday, a day after a suicide truck bombing killed two soldiers and wounded another 30 west of Baghdad, U.S. military officials said.
The soldier "has been reported as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown," the military said, without elaborating.
Neither U.S. military officials in Iraq nor in Washington would say whether they believed the soldier had been abducted or whether he may have been killed in the attack, and his remains had not been recovered.
"I'm sorry to add that we now have a soldier that we are counting as missing," Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli said in a video news conference from Baghdad with reporters at the Pentagon.
The attack occurred Thursday, when a truck driven by a suicide bomber exploded near an Iraqi power substation about 12 miles west of Baghdad, in an area where the U.S. troops were.
The soldiers had been guarding the power substation, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said, adding that the blast occurred near concrete barriers, causing debris and shrapnel to be scattered across the area and inflicting many of the wounds.
Johnson could not comment on what type of explosives were used, whether there was more than one suicide bomber or whether the U.S. soldiers took any action against the vehicle before it exploded.
"The whole incident remains under investigation to determine how this happened and why," Johnson said.
Of those wounded in the attack Thursday, one was listed as very seriously injured and one as seriously injured, the military statement said. Eleven returned to duty, and 17 were slightly wounded, it said.
A total of five American soldiers died Thursday, making it an especially bloody day for U.S. forces. On Friday, a U.S. Marine was killed in Anbar province.
At least 2,678 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count
MyWay
The soldier "has been reported as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown," the military said, without elaborating.
Neither U.S. military officials in Iraq nor in Washington would say whether they believed the soldier had been abducted or whether he may have been killed in the attack, and his remains had not been recovered.
"I'm sorry to add that we now have a soldier that we are counting as missing," Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli said in a video news conference from Baghdad with reporters at the Pentagon.
The attack occurred Thursday, when a truck driven by a suicide bomber exploded near an Iraqi power substation about 12 miles west of Baghdad, in an area where the U.S. troops were.
The soldiers had been guarding the power substation, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said, adding that the blast occurred near concrete barriers, causing debris and shrapnel to be scattered across the area and inflicting many of the wounds.
Johnson could not comment on what type of explosives were used, whether there was more than one suicide bomber or whether the U.S. soldiers took any action against the vehicle before it exploded.
"The whole incident remains under investigation to determine how this happened and why," Johnson said.
Of those wounded in the attack Thursday, one was listed as very seriously injured and one as seriously injured, the military statement said. Eleven returned to duty, and 17 were slightly wounded, it said.
A total of five American soldiers died Thursday, making it an especially bloody day for U.S. forces. On Friday, a U.S. Marine was killed in Anbar province.
At least 2,678 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count
MyWay
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