Posted on 04/08/2003 6:15:13 PM PDT by blam
Bloodstained uniforms found in hunt for PoWs
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 09/04/2003)
United States Marines have found blood-stained American uniforms and chemical weapons suits in a Baghdad military jail, the Pentagon said yesterday, but no trace of seven captured soldiers paraded on Iraqi television.
Hundreds of marines raided a military prison at Rashid airfield in south eastern Baghdad early yesterday following a lead that US prisoners of war were there.
Instead they found six pairs of camouflage trousers, and two chemical protection jackets. Two items bore the name tags of soldiers listed as captured.
"Some of the uniform items appear to have been shot," said Lt Col Nick Morano. The uniforms have been sent for DNA testing. Used syringes and antibiotics vials were also found.
Seven US soldiers are listed as PoWs: five from a supply convoy ambushed outside Nasiriyah on March 23, and two from a downed Apache helicopter.
There has been no news of the seven since they were shown on Iraqi television. The Red Cross has also been denied access to them.
A teenage soldier captured during the supply convoy ambush, Jessica Lynch, was last week rescued from an Iraqi hospital in a commando raid. Eight members of her unit, the 507th Maintenance Company, were found dead during that raid.
Pte Lynch's family visited her in a military hospital in Germany yesterday, where she is in intensive care with multiple injuries.
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