Watch CBS News

4 U.S. Bodies Found In Iraq

Four bodies have been found in Iraq, the remains of three private contractors and a soldier missing since an assault on their convoy outside Baghdad amid a wave of kidnappings of at least 22 foreigners, CBS News has confirmed.

A State Department official on Tuesday confirmed the discovery of the bodies, but the private contractor Halliburton said it did not know whether the dead were its missing employees. Initial reports said the four bodies were mutilated, but those reports were not confirmed, the official said.

Two U.S. soldiers and seven employees of Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root have been missing since their convoy was attacked Friday on the main highway west of Baghdad, between the district of Abu Ghraib and the central city of Fallujah.

The roads west of Baghdad have been a site of many of the kidnappings since the bloody fighting broke out across Iraq this month. Some abductions have also occurred in the south.

The most recent reported abductions were of four Italian security guards working for a U.S.-based company and a French TV journalist.

A U.S. spokesman said 40 foreigners from 12 countries were currently held by kidnappers — though an Associated Press count put the number at 22.

In other developments:

  • A 2,500-strong U.S. force, backed by tanks and artillery, massed on the outskirts of Najaf for a showdown with a radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr whose militia led a bloody uprising across the south, raising fears of an American assault on the holiest Shiite city.
  • A U.S. Sikorsky H-53 helicopter went down near Fallujah but there were no reported injuries to the crew, a Marine commander said. The team that secured the craft was ambushed by gunmen using small weapons, RPGs and mortars, and it suffered casualties.
  • April is quickly becoming the deadliest month since the Iraq war began in March 2003, with at least 82 U.S. troops reported killed in action. Until now, the deadliest month was November, when 82 died.
  • In a rare prime-time news conference, President George W. Bush called violence in Iraq a "power grab" by "extreme and ruthless elements." He said if additional forces are needed in Iraq, where more than 100,000 troops are stationed, he will send them.
  • Gen. John Abizaid, the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, said he has asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to adjust the U.S. troop rotation into and out of Iraq this spring so that U.S. commanders can have the use of perhaps 10,000 more soldiers than they otherwise would have.
  • Amid the violence, Japan's defense chief dropped plans to visit, Bulgaria's president insisted his soldiers be relocated to a safer place and France urged its citizens to leave. New Zealand army engineers and Thai soldiers have been confined to their bases and may leave earlier than planned. The head of Russia's Security Council said foreign and emergency situations ministries were prepared to evacuate Russian citizens.
  • Eight Ukrainian and Russian employees of an energy company who were kidnapped in Iraq were freed Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
  • Foreign hostages still believed held included three Japanese, a French journalist and , whose captors had threatened to kill them. Six other American civilian contractors, two soldiers and four Italians were missing. The FBI is probing the kidnappings.

    Two U.S. soldiers and seven employees of Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root have been missing since their convoy was attacked Friday on the main highway west of Baghdad, between the district of Abu Ghraib and the central city of Fallujah.

    The roads west of Baghdad have been a site of many of the kidnappings since the bloody fighting broke out across Iraq this month. Some abductions have also occurred in the south.

    The most recent reported abductions were of four Italian security guards working for a U.S.-based company and a French TV journalist.

    A U.S. spokesman said 40 foreigners from 12 countries were currently held by kidnappers — though an Associated Press count put the number at 22.

    The State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the four bodies had not yet been identified. It was unclear when the bodies were found.

    A spokeswoman for Halliburton Co., the major U.S. contractor in Iraq, said the firm also was aware that remains had been recovered but said it was not confirmed that they were those of its employees.

    "We are not yet certain of the identification of these brave individuals, and no matter who they are, we at Halliburton are saddened to learn of these deaths," the firm said in a statement.

    One of the seven missing employees — Thomas Hamill, a 43-year-old truck driver from Macon, Miss. — is known to have been abducted. His captors have threatened to kill and mutilate him unless U.S. troops ended their assault on Fallujah. The deadline passed Sunday with no word on his fate. Halliburton would not say if the six others were U.S. citizens or from elsewhere.

    The FBI has joined the investigation of the kidnappings, coalition spokesman Dan Senor said in Baghdad on Tuesday. Among the captives are three Japanese whose kidnappers threatened to burn them alive if Tokyo didn't withdraw its troops.

    Senor said the U.S.-led coalition would not negotiate with "terrorists or kidnappers." He would not comment on efforts to free the captives.

    "The FBI is working with coalition forces and Iraqi security forces to seek out the hostage-takers and the hostages," Senor said. "We have a number of other law enforcement agencies from the international community who are working on this."

    The four Italians were reported missing Tuesday, and an Arab satellite TV broadcaster said they had been kidnapped.

    Al-Jazeera broadcast a video showing four Italians sitting on the floor holding passports. Behind them were men with machine guns.

    The kidnappers demanded the Italian government apologize for insulting Islam and Muslims, Al-Jazeera said. They also want Italy, which has 3,000 troops in Iraq, to withdraw its forces.

    The four Italians work for the U.S.-based DTS LLC Security company and were first reported missing Monday, the Foreign Ministry said. The Italian news agency AGI and other reports said they were seized in Fallujah.

    Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a strong supporter of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, ruled out a withdrawal of troops based in the southern city of Nasiriyah.

    "The peace mission of the Italian soldiers in Iraq, in line with the international commitments that have been taken on, is absolutely not in question," he said.

    The French government demanded the immediate release of Alexandre Jordanov, a journalist for Capa Television in Paris, who was seized Sunday while videotaping an attack on an American military convoy.

    Franck Duprat, a television editor who worked with Jordanov on an investigative television show called "The Real News," said he disappeared on the road south of Baghdad.

    Three Czech journalists feared kidnapped Sunday are fine and could be released as early as Wednesday, Iraqi Minister of Culture Mofeed al-Jazaeri told Czech television from Baghdad.

    The three reporters, who were last heard from Sunday, are believed to have been kidnapped while headed toward Jordan on a road that goes through Abu Ghraib. They were identified as Czech Television reporter Michal Kubal and cameraman Petr Klima and Czech Radio reporter Vit Pohanka.

    On Tuesday, five Ukrainian and three Russian employees of a Russian energy company were released after being seized by masked gunmen who broke into their house in Baghdad.

  • View CBS News In
    CBS News App Open
    Chrome Safari Continue
    Be the first to know
    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.