US says detains two over abducted soldiers in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Iraqi police and U.S. special forces have detained two men suspected of involvement in the abduction of three American soldiers south of Baghdad earlier this year, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

It said one of the men is believed to have facilitated the abduction and was reported to have used his home to hide the soldiers. The two men had ties to Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, it added.

The three soldiers went missing after their patrol was ambushed on May 12 in Mahmudiya in the "Triangle of Death", a Sunni insurgent stronghold south of Baghdad.

Four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi translator were killed in the May attack.

The body of one of the missing soldiers was pulled from the Euphrates River later in May. (Writing by Alaa Shahine; editing by Sami Aboudi)