Qaeda-linked group says abducted US soldiers in Iraq

DUBAI, June 19 (Reuters) A key Iraqi militant body linked to al Qaeda today said it had abducted two American soldiers near Yusufiya, in the same region where the US military reported two of its men went missing last week.

''Your brothers in the military wing of the Mujahideen Shura Council kidnapped two American soldiers near Yusufiya,'' the group said in a statement posted on the Internet.

''We will provide you with more details about the incident in the next coming days.'' US and Iraqi forces are searching for two US soldiers who went missing on Friday after an attack on a checkpoint near Yusufiya south of Baghdad that killed another soldier.

Divers searched the Euphrates River and US aircraft combed the surrounding area near Yusufiya, an al Qaeda stronghold south of Baghdad.

''The American army, using different kinds of machines and armour, raided the area where the incident took place but the army of 'the world's strongest country' returned without success, humiliated,'' said the statement which was posted on a Web site often used by Islamist militants.

The statement, whose authenticity could not be verified, said the event showed ''the weakness of US intelligence''.

The posting did not provide any proof of the kidnapping. Iraqi militant groups have often posted pictures of identification cards of hostages or issued video tapes of them.

The Council, an umbrella body composed of al Qaeda in Iraq and some other Sunni Islamist militant groups, has pledged to continue a holy war against US-led forces despite the killing of the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has killed a number of foreign hostages, some by beheading.

REUTERS SHB RN1905