One soldier who was killed and two others kidnapped at a checkpoint in Yusufiyah, Iraq, Friday belonged to the 101st Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team.

Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed after the soldiers’ traffic control checkpoint came under enemy attack, said Fort Campbell Public Affairs spokesman John Minton.

The two missing soldiers are Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, Texas, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. All infantrymen were assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment.

Attack

Ahmed Khalaf Falah, a farmer who said he witnessed the attack Friday, said three Humvees were manning a checkpoint when they came under fire from many directions. Two Humvees went after the assailants, but the third was ambushed before it could move, he told The Associated Press.

Seven masked gunmen, including one carrying what Falah described as a heavy machine gun, killed the driver of the third vehicle, then took the two other U.S. soldiers captive, the witness said. His account could not be verified independently.

Another Iraqi said the Americans were offering $100,000 for information leading to the abductors, but the U.S. command denied that.

An umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed in a Web statement Monday that it had kidnapped two 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 White House promised to do everything it could to find the soldiers and said it had a message for anybody who may have taken the two men: “Give them back.”

More about the soldiers Babineau joined the Army in August 1998 and came to Fort Campbell the following December. He is survived by his wife, Rondi, and sons, Dominic and Donovan Babineau and stepdaughter Samantha Hensley, all of Oak Grove, Ky. His parents Paul and Dawn Babineau live in Springfield, Mass.

Menchaca entered the Army in March 2005 and arrived to Fort Campbell four months later. His wife is Christine Alvarez of Big Springs, Texas, and his mother and stepfather Maria and Sergio Vasquez of Houston, Texas.

Tucker arrived at Fort Campbell in Dec. 2005. His parents are Wesley and Margret Tucker of Burns, Ore.

Multinational Force Iraq spokesman Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the missing soldiers are listed as “duty status and whereabouts unknown.” The category changes to “missing in action” if they are not found after 10 days.

Caldwell said a squad of on-call armed U.S. soldiers, called a quick-reaction force, responded within 15 minutes to the attack site.

Coalition forces continue to search for the two missing soldiers who were manning the checkpoint at a canal crossing near the Euphrates River.

The search U.S. troops, backed by helicopters and warplanes, fanned out across the “Triangle of Death” south of Baghdad searching for the missing servicemen. At least four raids had been carried out, but the captives were not found, the military said.