The US military vowed on Monday to continue searching for two soldiers captured in Iraq, amid reports that the Al-Qaeda militant group has released a video about their seizure.
The SITE Institute, which studies violent extremist groups, said it had received a 10-minute video dealing with the planning and aftermath of the May 12 attack, in which four US solders were killed and three abducted.
Meanwhile, the CNN television network showed images of what appeared to be the military identity cards of Private Byron Fouty and Specialist Alex Jiminez, the two missing soldiers, which they said had been posted on the Internet.
A spokesman for the US military in Iraq, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver, told AFP that commanders had expected a video to surface since the Al-Qaeda front group claimed responsibility for the attack.
"Ever since the first statement by the Islamic State of Iraq that if we wanted to see the soldiers alive we should stop looking, we have been expecting this, knowing that it's a scare tactic by insurgent groups," Garver said.
"We'll look at it, and see what we can get out of it.
"The search is still continuing, with 6,000 troops including Iraqi forces. We're still using aircraft and other assets to continue the search. We are going to keep looking for our soldiers," he added.
On May 12, insurgents wiped out a small patrol of US soldiers manning a temporary observation post in Qarghuli, near the town of Mahmudiyah, 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of Baghdad.
Four American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed on the spot, and three more troops were dragged off by the attackers, who destroyed two Humvee transporters and laid roadside bombs to delay a US rescue attempt.
The next day, large numbers of US and Iraqi troops began searching palm groves and irrigation canals in a violent agricultural region south of Baghdad known as an insurgent stronghold dubbed the "Triangle of Death".
Two days after the attack, the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility and issued a warning.
"Your soldiers are in our hands. If you want them safe, do not search for them," the group said in an Internet statement.
On May 24, the military confirmed that Iraqi police had found the body of Private First Class Joseph Anzack floating in the Euphrates river. Police said he had execution-style gunshot wounds to the back of his head.
In the weeks since the attack at least 100 more Americans have been killed in Iraq, some of them during the search for the missing troops, but the fate of the hostages nevertheless remains of vital importance for the US mission.
Commanders have repeatedly stressed the importance they and their troops attach to the "The Soldier's Creed", a set of principles which states that US forces never leave a dead or injured comrade behind in combat.
