Insurgents have captured an American soldier in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, an Iraqi police spokesman said today.
Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Ahmed of Samarra police told reporters the soldier was seized yesterday by gunmen in two Opel cars.
He said US troops were out in force in the streets of the Sunni Muslim city on Tuesday.
A US military spokesman said he had no information on the incident.
Lt Col Ahmed said the Americans had alerted Iraqi security forces and asked them to look out for the missing soldier.
US and Iraqi forces stormed Samarra, 100 km north of Baghdad, in early October as part of the US-backed interim government's campaign to retake rebel areas before national elections scheduled for January.
