Al-Qaida: Captured U.S. Troops Killed

BAGHDAD -- Insurgents linked to al-Qaida issued a video Monday claiming they killed all three U.S. soldiers captured in an ambush last month. "They were alive and then dead," a voice said during a sequence of images that included the military IDs of two Americans still missing.

The nearly 11-minute video by an al-Qaida front group, the Islamic State of Iraq, offered no proof that the soldiers were killed and buried. The U.S. military insisted the massive manhunt south of Baghdad will go on.

"We condemn the tactics used by these terrorists, and are using all means available to pursue those responsible," said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, the chief military spokesman in Baghdad. "We continue to search and hope that our two missing soldiers will be found alive and in good health."

The video, posted on a militant Web site, included grainy black-and-white footage said to have been taken during the May 12 pre-dawn ambush. It also showed credit cards, money and other personal items the militants called "booty." A headline said: "Bush is the reason of the loss of your POWs."

The video was likely a show of strength by al-Qaida-linked militants, who find themselves increasingly engaged in violent battles against more moderate Sunni insurgents in Iraq.

Jon Alterman, the Middle East program director for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the insurgents could have many other reasons for releasing the video.

"It could be an effort to stop U.S. efforts to find them. It could be an effort to lighten up the pressure. It could be an effort to sow confusion," he said. "It certainly doesn't seem like anything definitive."

Regardless of the soldiers' status, the footage was the latest setback for the U.S. military as it seeks to quell the sectarian violence raging in Iraq. Military officials also acknowledged Monday that U.S.-led forces have control of fewer than one-third of Baghdad's neighborhoods despite thousands of extra troops nearly four months into a security crackdown _ an assessment that came as the U.S. death toll approached 3,500, with at least 15 American troops reported killed in the first three days of June.

Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a military spokesman for Baghdad operations, confirmed a status report completed in May found that American and Iraqi forces were able to "protect the population" and "maintain physical influence over" only 146 of the 457 Baghdad neighborhoods, while troops have either not begun operations aimed at rooting out insurgents or still face "resistance" in the others.

The report appeared to be the first comprehensive analysis of the progress of the operation that began Feb. 14. Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is due to report in September on whether the current troop increase is working amid a fierce debate in Washington over whether President Bush should begin withdrawing American forces.

But Bleichwehl stressed that the assessment, first reported by The New York Times, did not mean a lack of progress and said the setbacks were largely because of the need to return to some areas that had previously been cleared, as well as problems with the availability and reliability of Iraqi police.

"It's way too early to try and project what Baghdad will look like in September," he said in a telephone interview.