US hunts soldiers in Iraq despite Qaeda threat

BAGHDAD, May 15 (Reuters) US and Iraqi troops kept up a massive search for three missing American soldiers in farmland south of Baghdad today, despite warnings by al Qaeda that the hunt would put their safety at risk.

The soldiers, part of a larger unit sent to intercept roadside bombs in an area known as the ''Triangle of Death'', have been missing since an ambush on Saturday in which four other US soldiers and an Iraqi army translator were killed.

''We will continue to hope for the best ... we are not aware of any information that means we don't have any reason to hope for that,'' US military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said.

US President George W Bush is deploying 30,000 more US troops to Iraq in June in a last-ditch effort to stop a slide into sectarian civil war between Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs.

The move is meant to buy time for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government to approve national reconciliation laws that Washington says are crucial to ending violence.

An important step towards that goal was taken today when a committee set up to reform Iraq's constitution said it had agreed on a draft, to be submitted to parliament next week.

Sunni Arabs, who were dominant under Saddam Hussein and are the backbone of the insurgency, say the existing document cedes too much power to majority Shi'ites and ethnic Kurds.

Other power-sharing legislation Bush is pressuring Iraq to pass includes laws to share Iraq's vast oil wealth and to end a ban on former members of Saddam's party holding public office.

But resistance is expected in parliament, especially from Shi'ites virulently opposed to former Baath members taking up public posts, and from non-Arab Kurds who resist the wording on the Arab identity of Iraq.

''TACTICAL QUESTIONING'' More than 4,000 US troops, backed by Iraqi units, helicopters and jets, are scouring farmland south of Baghdad after the attack near Mahmudiya -- one of the worst strikes against US troops since the 2003 invasion.

Garver said 460 ''tactical questionings'' had been conducted since the search began and 11 people had been detained. There had been more than 50 intelligence tips but no physical evidence of the soldiers' whereabouts had been found.

US and Iraqi troops are combing lush palm groves, searching cars and going door-to-door. Residents in Yusufiya say the town and surrounding rural areas have been sealed off.

The US military believes the soldiers were abducted by the Sunni Arab militant group al Qaeda, or a group affiliated to it.

Last June, al Qaeda abducted two US soldiers in the same area. Their mutilated bodies were found days later after a search by 8,000 troops.

The al Qaeda-led Islamic State in Iraq has claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack and warned the military to stop searching ''if you want the safety of your soldiers''.

Its statement posted on a Web site, did not give any proof the soldiers were still alive, carry any pictures of them or make demands for their release.

It suggested Saturday's attack had been revenge for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl and the killing of her family in Mahmudiya in March 2006.

Leading al Qaeda expert Rohan Gunaratna told a security conference in London that a US troop pullout would leave Iraq a ''terrorist Disneyland'' where al Qaeda could build its strength unchallenged and become a launchpad for international terrorism.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny and Ibon Villelabeitia in Baghdad and Mark Trevelyan in London) REUTERS MP VV2351