AN al-Qaida front group in Iraq warned the United States on Monday to halt its expanding search for three missing American soldiers “if you want their safety.”

The Pentagon acknowledged for the first time it believes the servicemen are in terrorist hands.

The statements came as thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops swept through farmhouses, fields and palm groves south of Baghdad in the hope of finding the soldiers — last seen before a pre-dawn attack Saturday in an area considered a stronghold of Sunni extremists. Four Americans and one Iraqi soldier were killed in the ambush.

Despite the warning, U.S. troops have questioned hundreds of people and detained 11 in the search for three American soldiers feared captured by al-Qaida during a weekend ambush in an insurgent stronghold south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said yesterday.

“We have conducted more than 450 tactical interviews and detained 11 individuals” as of Monday night, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said without elaborating.

“We are working with the Iraqi army and the Iraqi police in searching for our missing soldiers. We’re also communicating with the local population for information, for support and the local population continues to be helpful in providing tips,” Garver said.

For a fourth day, jets, helicopters and unmanned surveillance aircraft crisscrossed the skies over the sparsely populated farm area near Mahmoudiya, 32 kilometers south of Baghdad.

Residents have complained of random detentions and homes being ransacked as the hunt drew in more troops.(SD-Agencies)