Iraq Qaeda group demands US end search for soldiers

DUBAI, May 14 (Reuters) The self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, an al Qaeda-led group, demanded today that the US military stop searching for three soldiers it says it is holding, saying this was the only way to secure their safety.

''Your soldiers are in our grip. If you want the safety of your soldiers then do not search for them,'' the group said in a statement on a Web site used by insurgents.

US troops backed by helicopters have been searching for three American soldiers who went missing in an al Qaeda stronghold near Baghdad on Saturday after an ambush that killed four other US soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter.

The posting did not carry pictures of the soldiers, make demands for their release or say what their fate would be. The group usually posts pictures of people it abducts as proof.

''You have suffered a setback today because you have described the US soldier through your propaganda as invincible ... with grace from God the Almighty the US soldier has been humiliated at the hands of faithful (Muslims),'' it said.

''By searching for your soldiers you are only tiring yourself,'' it said, adding that the aggressive search showed that the US military would rather ''the whole army dead rather than having one crusader detained''.

REUTERS AB RK1952