This may be more deception, or it may be Sunnis enacting Al-Sadr’s call to his Shi’ites to seize hostages in order to force the release of prisoners. From Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
DUBAI (Reuters) – Al Qaeda has kidnapped two Marines in western Iraq and issued a 24-hour ultimatum to U.S. forces to release female Sunni Muslim prisoners, a statement posted on a Web site said on Sunday.
“Al Qaeda soldiers succeeded in kidnapping two Marines … and Al Qaeda is giving the infidels 24 hours to release female Sunni Muslim prisoners … or they (Western forces) should not bother to look for their children,” the statement said on a Web site generally used by the group.
A spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan, said: “I have not heard anything about any of our folks being taken. I would suspect that these are unfounded rumors, as that is what has happened in the past.”