The News You Missed Pressroom5.com: Thousands Of U.S. Troops Search For 3 Missing Soldiers

Thousands of U.S. troops are continuing to search for three soldiers believed to have been captured by al Qaeda in Iraq, they have made several arrests and questioned hundreds of people.

A group claiming allegiance to al Qaeda said at the weekend it had the men.

The self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, posted a message on a website saying it was holding "crusader" soldiers.

It warned the U.S. military to stop searching for the trio and said the men were taken in revenge for the alleged rape and murder of a teenage girl by American troops a year ago.

"Your soldiers are in our hands. If you want their safety, do not look for them," the 'Islamic State of Iraq' said on a militant website.

You should remember what you have done to our sister Abeer in the same area."

Troops backed by helicopters and jets are combing orchards and farms and have erected roadblocks in a massive hunt for the missing soldiers.

The soldiers went missing after an ambush killed five soldiers Saturday on their military convoy in a region south of Baghdad that has been called the Triangle of Death.

Commander are under fire for lack of military support for the small venerable convoy and taking one hour to respond to the fallen soldiers.

It was the same area where two U.S. soldiers were abducted by al Qaeda insurgents last June.

Their mutilated and booby-trapped bodies were found days later after a search by thousands of troops.

Other developments Reported By CNN

• Insurgents in Baghdad killed 10 people in two attacks on Tuesday, a bombing strike at an outdoor market and mortar fire near Sadr City, authorities in Iraq said.

• Insurgents kidnapped nine workers from Iraq's largest oil refinery on Monday amid concerns among the U.S. military about security at the facility, police in the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit said Tuesday.

• Three U.S. soldiers, one Marine and one U.S. airman were killed Monday in Iraq in three incidents, the U.S. military said. The soldiers' deaths bring to 49 the number of U.S. troops killed this month in Iraq, 3,400 U.S. military personnel have been killed since the war began more than four years ago. Seven civilian contractors also have died.

• Baghdad police found 18 unidentified bodies dumped across the capital Monday, an Interior Ministry official said, adding that 293 corpses have been found across the capital so far this month.

• Coalition forces detained 11 "suspected terrorists" on Monday, including "one individual suspected of conspiring directly with al Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders." He was picked up in Baghdad, the military said. Other raids took place in Ramadi, Hit and Karmah, all west of the Iraqi capital.