Ambushed soldiers weapons recovered

Friday 2007Oct12 13:20:48 EDT

Weapons identified as those belonging to 10th Mountain Division soldiers kidnapped and killed in a May 12 ambush were recovered near Baghdad on Tuesday, the Army announced in a press release. According to the release, the weapons were found by soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division after Iraqi citizens led them to a cache in a house about seven miles north of the ambush site.

The May 12 attack, in which four soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed, took place southwest of Baghdad in the Quarghulli village near Yusufiyah. The body of one soldier, Pfc. Joseph Anzack, was found floating in the Euphrates River 11 days later, and two other soldiers, Spc. Alex Jimenez and Pvt. Byron Fouty, are still missing.

The soldiers, all from 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry in 2nd BCT, were on a combat patrol when the attack took place. The cache discovered Tuesday consisted of 28 blasting caps in their original packaging, 50 pounds of homemade explosives, three 60 mm mortar rounds, an AK47 rifle and matching rigged pouch, two U.S. M-4s, one with an M203 grenade launcher attached, a single M203 and an M249 squad automatic weapon.

After finding the M4s and the M203, the release stated, analysts checked each of the serial numbers and determined that the M249 belonged to Jimenez. One of the M4s with the M203 attached belonged to Sgt. Anthony Schoeber, who was killed in the attack, and another M4 belonged to Anzack.

The soldiers' identification cards and wallets were found in mid-June in an al-Qaida safe house in Samara, about 75 miles north of Yusufiyah. These weapons are the first piece of physical evidence in the 2nd BCT's area of operations, according to the release.

Jimenez and Fouty are listed by the Army as missing-captured. There are two other soldiers in the same category, Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin, who disappeared in an ambush on his fuel convoy on April 9, 2004, and Spc. Ahmed Altaie, who has been missing since he was kidnapped by masked gunmen in a Baghdad neighborhood 2006Oct23 , while visiting his Iraqi wife.

During the search Tuesday, soldiers also discovered a manmade hide site near the house where the weapons were discovered. Nine locals were detained and are being questioned.

The recovered weapons will be turned over to the Criminal Investigations Department for fingerprints and DNA samples, the release stated.

The 2nd BCT soldiers will continue to search for more evidence that can lead them to the missing soldiers or the attackers, but the brigade is scheduled to return to its home base at Fort Drum, N.Y., by mid-November. It will be replaced by the 3rd BCT, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky., which deployed in September.


- Gina Cavallaro, Staff writer