Iraqi television showed filmtoday of at least four bodies, said to be US soldiers, andfive prisoners who said they were American.
Two of the prisoners, including a woman, appeared to bewounded. One was lying on the floor on a rug.
They were the first US prisoners known to have been takenby Iraq. The prisoners were questioned on air and gave theirnames, military identification numbers and home towns.
The bodies and prisoners were shown on Iraqi television,relayed by Al-Jazeera, which said the dead and wounded came froma battle near the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, where USMarines are fighting for control.
The first prisoner shown gave his name as Miller and said hewas from Kansas.
Asked why he had come to Iraq he replied: "Because I wastold to come here. I was just under orders. I was told to shoot- only if I'm shot at. I don't want to kill anybody."
Earlier, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said thatenemy soldiers captured at the southern town of Souq al-Shuyukhnear Nassiriya would soon be shown on state television.
General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs ofStaff, told ABC television some Americans - fewer than 10 -were missing in southern Iraq.
Souq al-Shuyukh is southeast of the southern Iraqi city ofNassiriya, where US Marines have reported resistance on theirnorthward sweep from Kuwait.