BEIRUT (MCT) — The U.S. military has recovered the remains of the last U.S. service member missing in Iraq, ending a nearly six-year ordeal involving shadowy militants and a tragic love story, his family said Sunday.
About 1 a.m. Sunday, a U.S. officer knocked on the door of the family home in Ann Arbor, Mich., with news that Army Staff Sgt. Ahmed Altaei was confirmed dead. The officer had no details yet on how or when he died, said Entifadh Qanbar, Altaei’s uncle and an aide to Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi. Altaei was the last U.S. soldier unaccounted for in Iraq.
Altaei’s brother Hathal Altaei said the military had confirmed his brother’s identity through a DNA test.
“The officer came eight hours ago and told us,” Altaei said. “We’ve been waiting for five years, suffering, not knowing if he’s alive or dead. This was not the news we wanted, of course, but it’s better than staying like that, without ever knowing what happened to him.”
In 2006, gunmen abducted Altaei, an Iraqi-born reservist who was 41 at the time, after he sneaked out of the Green Zone in Baghdad to visit his new Iraqi wife. Altaei’s official status was “missing-captured” until the Iraqi government turned over his remains to U.S. officials on Feb. 22, Qanbar said.
Several arrests were made in connection to the case, but which group captured Altaei was never determined for certain.
