4 from U.S. die amid attacks

As a deadline for executing abducted activists passed, their fate was unclear.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Insurgents killed four American soldiers in separate attacks Saturday as violence mounted five days ahead of national elections.
U.S. officials announced the release of 238 detainees but said the move was unrelated to demands by kidnappers of four Christian peace activists to free all prisoners.
Two of the soldiers were killed by small arms fire southwest of the capital, the U.S. command said. The others died in a roadside bombing in Baghdad's Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah and by small arms fire north of the city, according to the command.
The U.S. military also said an American soldier was killed and 11 others wounded Friday in a suicide car bombing in the Abu Ghraib district of western Baghdad. That brought to at least 2,140 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Foreigner kidnappings
Concern mounted over the fate of the four activists as a deadline set by kidnappers threatening to kill them passed on Saturday.
The Interior Ministry said it had no information about the hostages, and various emissaries sent from Canada and Britain showed no sign they had established contact with the kidnappers.
The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigade seized the activists two weeks ago. It first set a Thursday deadline but then extended it until Saturday, without giving a precise hour.
The four are Norman Kember, 74, of London; Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va.; and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32.
Sunni Arab clerics used their main weekly religious service Friday to plead for the hostages' lives because of their humanitarian work and condemnation of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
U.S. and British officials have expressed concern for the lives of the captives but made clear they would not bow to the kidnappers' demands.
On Saturday, U.S. officials said they had released 238 security detainees held by the multinational forces. However, such releases are common and arranged weeks in advance. U.S. Embassy spokesman Liz Colton said the release was not in response to the kidnappers' demands.
Elsewhere, the body of an Egyptian engineer was found Saturday, a day after he was seized by gunmen in Tikrit. Ibrahim Sayed Hilali had lived in Tikrit for a long time, police said.
A French aid worker and a German citizen also are being held by kidnappers. And there has been no further word on the fate of American hostage Ronald Allen Schulz, after an Internet statement in the name of the Islamic Army in Iraq on Thursday claimed his abductors had killed him.
Iraqi officials say the revival of foreigner kidnappings may be part of a bid to undermine Thursday's elections to choose a parliament for the next four years.
U.S. officials hope a big turnout among the Sunni Arab minority, the foundation of the insurgency, will help quell the violence so American and other foreign troops can begin withdrawing next year.
Demands for timetable
If there is a big Sunni Arab turnout Thursday, that could spur calls for a timetable to be announced -- even though Iraqis on the whole are as divided as Americans over how to handle the contentious issue.
Many Sunni Arab candidates have called on the Americans to accept a timetable, despite President Bush's refusal to do so. And they are likely to press that demand when the new parliament convenes -- especially if they win a sizable bloc of 50-60 seats in the 274-member assembly.
"We support and demand a timetable," said Khalaf al-Ilyan, head of the Sunni-run National Dialogue Council. "If this is achieved, I think the problems in the country will be reduced, because the main source of trouble is the occupation."
On that, Sunnis would find common ground with many Shiite political groups -- a rare display of national unity at a time when Iraq's many religious, ethnic and cultural groups seem to be spinning apart.
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr already has called for such a timetable. And there are signs that al-Sadr may be joined by the country's most powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Aides to al-Sistani say the cleric is considering making such a demand once the new government takes office. If he decides to call for a timetable and the Americans refuse, the ayatollah would call for mass protests, the aides said, noting that no final decision has been made.
Bush has pledged to remove the 160,000 troops as Iraqis become more capable of handling their own defense. But he has steadfastly refused to accept a timetable, saying it would demoralize American troops and invigorate the insurgents.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.