Military

US Military Begins New Anti-Insurgency Operation in Western Iraq; 2 Killed in Baghdad Car Bombing

By VOA News
04 October 2005

U.S. forces in Iraq have begun a new offensive against insurgents in three major towns in the Euphrates River valley, west of Baghdad.

A U.S. military statement says some 2500 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors, along with Iraqi security forces, began the operation in Haditha, Haqaniyah and Barwana early Tuesday. The offensive, named Operation River Gate, is described as the largest military operation in Al Anbar province this year.

U.S. and Iraqi troops are also continuing a separate operation in areas further to the west, near the Syrian border.

In Baghdad, at least two Iraqi policemen were killed in a suicide car bombing near a checkpoint at an entrance of the heavily fortified Green Zone, where many foreign embassies and government offices are located.

And, the U.S. military said one U.S. Marine and three soldiers were killed in two separate bomb blasts in western Iraq Monday in the towns of Karabila and Haqaniyah.

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.