http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1879260.php
Missing troops from 101st
101st soldier killed, two kidnapped during attack on checkpoint in Iraq
By Chantal Escoto
The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf-Chronicle
One soldier who was killed and two others kidnapped at a checkpoint in Yusufiyah, Iraq, Friday belonged to the 101st Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed after the soldiers’ traffic control checkpoint came under enemy attack, said Fort Campbell Public Affairs spokesman John Minton.
The two missing soldiers are Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, Texas, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. All infantrymen were assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment.
Ahmed Khalaf Falah, a farmer who said he witnessed the attack Friday, said three Humvees were manning a checkpoint when they came under fire from many directions. Two Humvees went after the assailants, but the third was ambushed before it could move, he told The Associated Press.
Seven masked gunmen, including one carrying what Falah described as a heavy machine gun, killed the driver of the third vehicle, then took the two other U.S. soldiers captive, the witness said. His account could not be verified independently.
Another Iraqi said the Americans were offering $100,000 for information leading to the abductors, but the U.S. command denied that.
An umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed in a Web statement Monday that it had kidnapped two soldiers reported missing south of Baghdad.
There was no immediate confirmation that the statement was credible, although it appeared on a Web site often used by al-Qaida-linked groups. U.S. officials have said they were trying to confirm whether the missing soldiers were kidnapped.
“Your brothers in the military wing of the Mujahedeen Shura Council kidnapped the two American soldiers near Youssifiya,” the group said in a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.
The White House promised to do everything it could to find the soldiers and said it had a message for anybody who may have taken the two men: “Give them back.”
More about the soldiers Babineau joined the Army in August 1998 and came to Fort Campbell the following December. He is survived by his wife, Rondi, and sons, Dominic and Donovan Babineau and stepdaughter Samantha Hensley, all of Oak Grove, Ky. His parents Paul and Dawn Babineau live in Springfield, Mass.
Menchaca entered the Army in March 2005 and arrived to Fort Campbell four months later. His wife is Christine Alvarez of Big Springs, Texas, and his mother and stepfather Maria and Sergio Vasquez of Houston, Texas.
Tucker arrived at Fort Campbell in Dec. 2005. His parents are Wesley and Margret Tucker of Burns, Ore.
Multinational Force Iraq spokesman Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the missing soldiers are listed as “duty status and whereabouts unknown.” The category changes to “missing in action” if they are not found after 10 days.
Caldwell said a squad of on-call armed U.S. soldiers, called a quick-reaction force, responded within 15 minutes to the attack site.
Coalition forces continue to search for the two missing soldiers who were manning the checkpoint at a canal crossing near the Euphrates River.
The search U.S. troops, backed by helicopters and warplanes, fanned out across the “Triangle of Death” south of Baghdad searching for the missing servicemen. At least four raids had been carried out, but the captives were not found, the military said.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said he had no new information about the search and could not confirm reports the two men were abducted.
“We’re still trying to ascertain their whereabouts,” he told CNN’s “Late Edition.” “Obviously, there is a vigorous effort to try to locate them and to bring them back safely.”
A U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, said Saturday a dive team also was searching for the men, whose checkpoint was near a Euphrates River canal not far from Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad. The Sunni region is the site of frequent ambushes of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops.
The U.S. military said Sunday it was continuing the search.
“Coalition and Iraqi forces will continue to search everywhere possible, uncovering every stone, until our soldiers are found, and we will continue to use every resource available in our search,” it said.
Falah also said tensions were high in the area as U.S. soldiers raided some houses and arrested men. He also said the Americans were setting up checkpoints on all roads leading to the area of the attack and helicopters were hovering at low altitudes.
A Youssifiyah resident, who claimed his house was searched by U.S. soldiers Sunday afternoon, also said the Americans used translators to offer $100,000 for information leading to those who took the soldiers.
He said he would not cooperate because he was angry with the Americans.
“I will not do it even if they pay $1 million,” the resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution. “They deserve all that they are facing ... We are living a hard life because of them.”
Caldwell said, “We are currently using every means at our disposal on the ground, in the air and in the water to find them,” said Caldwell, the spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad.
He said blocking positions were established throughout the area within an hour of the attack to keep suspects from fleeing.
Caldwell also said the military was still searching for Sgt. Keith M. Maupin, of Batavia, Ohio, who went missing April 9, 2004.
“We continue to search using every means available and will not stop looking until we find the missing soldiers,” he said.
Maupin was captured when insurgents ambushed his fuel convoy with the 724th Transportation Co. west of Baghdad. A week later, Arab television network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape showing Maupin sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.
That June, Al-Jazeera aired another tape purporting to show a U.S. soldier being shot. But the dark, grainy tape showed only the back of the victim’s head and did not show the actual shooting. The Army ruled it was inconclusive whether the soldier was Maupin.
“There have been ongoing efforts,” Snow said. “Unfortunately, again, no word on Keith Maupin, either.”
Maupin, a 20-year-old private first class at the time of his capture, has been promoted twice since then.