Via Breitbart.com/AP:

An umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed in a Web statement Monday that it had kidnapped two U.S. soldiers reported missing south of Baghdad. There was no immediate confirmation that the statement was credible, although it appeared on a Web site often used by al-Qaida-linked groups.

U.S. officials have said they were trying to confirm whether the missing soldiers were kidnapped.

“Your brothers in the military wing of the Mujahedeen Shura Council kidnapped the two American soldiers near Youssifiya,” the group said in a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.

The Web site did not name the soldiers.

The soldiers were reported missing Friday after insurgents attacked a checkpoint. The Defense Department identified the missing men as Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.

See Blogs of War and Dan Riehl for more background on the soldiers.

There’s a reported $100,000 reward for their safe return.

And one soldier was killed in the same attack in which the two went missing:

A 25-year-old soldier from Massachusetts was killed and two of his comrades were kidnapped during an insurgent attack in Yusufiyah, southwest of Baghdad, the US military confirmed last night.

The Department of Defense identified the victim as Army Specialist David J. Babineau of Springfield. He fought with the First Battalion, 502 d Infantry Regiment, Second Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Babineau and his unit were guarding a checkpoint Friday when they were attacked , said Ahmed Khalaf Falah, a farmer who said he witnessed the attack. Seven masked gunmen, including one carrying what appeared to be a heavy machine gun, killed the driver of the third vehicle, then took the other two soldiers captive, Falah said.

And 7 wounded during the search for the missing.

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