Iraqi PM Wants Rape-Slay Investigation

U.S. military secure the area of a car bomb attack, Wednesday, July 5, 2006, in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. A suicide car bomb struck an Iraqi police patrol on Wednesday in Mosul, killing at least two people and wounding four, police said. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ibrahim) (Mohammed Ibrahim - AP)

He said Iraqi police were informed and came with U.S. troops to take the bodies to the nearby American base. The family retrieved the bodies at the base the next morning.

"Nobody knew who killed them," he told AP Television News. "Some said it was insurgents, and in fact, we ruled out the American troops" until the U.S. investigation was announced Friday.

He said neighbors had seen the U.S. soldiers at the time of the crime, but did not come forward until the investigation was publicized. "They were afraid of telling the truth, really, we were surprised by this news."

The accused are from the same platoon as two soldiers whose mutilated bodies were found June 19, three days after they were abducted by insurgents in Youssifiyah.

But Caldwell said investigators had found nothing to indicate the killings of the soldiers was retaliation for the rape-slaying, as some have suggested. "It appears they're very separate and distinct events that occurred, from what we've been able to find thus far," he said.

He also said questions about why the U.S. soldiers apparently had been left to their own devices despite rigorous military protocol in Iraq were among the many issues being investigated and he said results should be available in the next week or so.

Meanwhile, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi said a group claiming to have kidnapped a Sunni legislator made several demands for her freedom: the release of all detainees, a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and an end to attacks on Shiite mosques.

Al-Hashimi said the group contacted his Iraqi Islamic Party, but did not offer proof that it was holding lawmaker Tayseer al-Mashhadani. He said he believe she was still alive.

Al-Mashhadani and seven of her bodyguards were seized Saturday by gunmen at a checkpoint in a Shiite part of eastern Baghdad. The main Sunni political alliance has suspended its participation in parliament to demand her release.

"We call on you in the name of Islam to end her suffering," al-Hashimi said in a message to the kidnappers.

Al-Maliki told Jordan's government he was postponing a visit to that country because of "political obligations in Iraq," said Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh.

Judeh denied the trip, scheduled for Thursday, was postponed because of Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter, Raghad Saddam Hussein, whom Iraq recently included on a list of 41 most wanted people.