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| U.S., Iraq Forces Battle Insurgents |
| Saturday, June 18, 2005 |
U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces battled insurgents on two fronts Saturday in a restive western province, killing about 50 militants in a dusty frontier town in the military's latest campaign to stop foreign fighters infiltrating from neighboring Syria.
The military also announced Saturday that two U.S. soldiers were killed and one was wounded during a small-arms skirmish with insurgents late Friday while transporting a detainee near Buhriz, about 35 miles north of Baghdad. A civilian and the detainee also were killed, and five Iraqi police officers were wounded. At least 1,718 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Operation Spear, or Romhe in Arabic, was in its second day in Karabilah, about 200 miles west of Baghdad, in Anbar province. Karabilah, which is along the Syrian border, long has been considered an insurgent hotbed.
"The goal is not to seize territory," said Marine Col. Stephen Davis, a commander from New Rochelle, N.Y. "This is about going in and finding the insurgents. This is not a walk-through-the-river exercise."
Three U.S. troops have been wounded since the operation began Friday, Davis said. The campaign involves about 1,000 Marines and Iraqi forces backed by battle tanks. About 100 insurgents have been captured, the military said.
"Approximately 50 insurgents have been killed since the operation began," Marine Capt. Jeffrey Pool said from Ramadi, the provincial capital.
A second campaign of about the same size, Operation Dagger, was launched Saturday - this one targeting the marshy shores of a remote lake north of Baghdad. About 1,000 U.S. Marines and Iraqi troops, backed by fighter jets and tanks, were participating. |
posted by Jay Are @ 3:02:00 PM   |
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