LAWRENCE - His son has been missing in Iraq for 10 days, but Ramon "Andy" Jimenez, like so many in the Merrimack Valley, continues to hope and pray for the best.

"He's doing much better and his hope is really running high," said Wendy Luzon, a family friend.

Jimenez, of Albion Street, was still at Fort Drum in New York yesterday - the home base of the Army's 10th Mountain Division. He checks in several times a day with close family and friends. He says he's got a good feeling.

"I don't know what they are telling him. ... But he is expecting good news," Luzon said yesterday.

Army Spc. Alex Jimenez, 25, has been missing since May 12 when his unit was ambushed in a predawn raid. A member of the 10th Mountain's 2nd Brigade, Jimenez could be in the hands of terrorists linked to al-Qaida.

Four soldiers were killed in the ambush, and three, including Jimenez, remain missing. Yesterday, U.S. troops raided safe houses south of Baghdad but found no trace of the missing soldiers.

Also missing are Pvt. Byron Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich., and Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, Calif.

U.S. soldiers yesterday raided suspected safe houses near the Euphrates River south of Baghdad in their search for the three men, but found them empty after the militants apparently were tipped off and fled, a military spokesman said.

It was the latest in a series of frustrations for exhausted U.S. troops hunting for any sign of the missing trio.

Maj. Webster Wright, a spokesman for the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade combat team, said 27 airborne operations had been staged during the widespread search the last nine days, dropping off soldiers to gain the element of surprise and avoid bomb-studded roads.

"It's very quick, it's very sudden," he said. "You can come from any different angle and drop down on a house without being pinned to the roads."

But he said the insurgents were catching on to U.S. tactics and had fled ahead of raids near the river yesterday.

"We went after a couple of objectives, and they had some warning systems out," Wright said. "They were able to slip away from us."

He said planners were looking at targets to the west of the division's area of operations. He wasn't more specific, but that would likely include volatile Anbar province, a vast desert area that stretches to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Anbar is considered a key smuggling route for insurgent groups, including factions linked to al-Qaida.

"We are looking at all of the possibilities that the enemy might be taking. Some of those options might be to the west," Wright said.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of U.S. troops south of Baghdad, said in a CNN interview that 4,000 American soldiers and 2,000 Iraqis were involved in the search.

"We won't stop until we find our fallen comrades," he said, adding that the military was following up 249 intelligence reports, the majority of which said the three soldiers were still alive.

Back at home, Luzon said family and friends are deeply touched by the prayers and well-wishes they have received from the region. She said thoughts posted on The Eagle-Tribune's Web site are so encouraging.

"It's wonderful," Luzon said.

A message for Alex Jimenez now hangs high above Interstate 495 north.

"Pray for our brave hero," reads the white banner tacked to the Corbett Street bridge just before Route 28 in Andover.

The banner is surrounded by three flags from the United States, the Dominican Republic, where Jimenez was born, and the Army.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.