US military doesn't confirm al Qaeda holds troops

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) The US military is not giving ''much credence'' to al Qaeda in Iraq's assertion that it abducted two American troops south of Baghdad, US defense officials said today.

''There's no indication it's an authentic claim,'' said one official at the Pentagon, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

''The folks on the ground (the US command in Iraq) aren't giving it much credence,'' the official added.

The al Qaeda statement came as 8,000 US and Iraqi troops searched for the two U.S. troops who went missing on Friday after an attack on a checkpoint that killed another soldier.

The missing troops have been identified as Pfc. Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, from Madras, Oregon, and Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, from Houston, Texas.

REUTERS SHB PM2014