Fifty Iraqi 'rebels' killed in US operation

KARABILA, Iraq - US forces launched their second major offensive in western Iraq in as many days on Saturday, ratcheting up the hunt for rebels and weapons in the Euphrates river valley that stretches to the Syrian border.

Around 1000 US Marines and soldiers, with the support of Iraqi troops, began Operation Dagger in a hostile, deserted area 75 km northwest of Baghdad early on Saturday, the military said, backed by US fighter jets and helicopters.

"Dagger is focused on locating hidden weapons caches and denying insurgents sanctuary in the area," US Marine Captain Jeff Pool said in a statement detailing the operation.

Pool said on Saturday around 50 insurgents had been killed and dozens more rounded up. Doctors in the town of Qaim said they had received 20 bodies and many more wounded.

The offensive comes a little over 24 hours after the launch of Operation Spear around the towns of Karabila and Qaim, about 20 km west of the Syrian border, an area US forces believe has become a conduit for foreign militants and weapons.

The twin operations, involving around 1000 troops as well as extensive air support and tanks and other armour on the ground, represent a substantial escalation of force by the US military in an area that is known as a rebel bastion.

There have been four major operations in the area since the beginning of May, underscoring the task US forces face.

Operation Spear began with a heavy bombardment by US fighter jets, which dropped at least 11 225 kilo bombs on suspected hideouts and weapons caches on Friday and Saturday.

Colonel Steve Davis, the commander of the operation, said three of those killed were Saudis. He said three US troops were lightly wounded, and three Iraqi civilians were hurt in a gunbattle after insurgents held them hostage.

"We're successful. I haven't lost anybody. I've killed 30 knuckleheads. We are continuing to go after our objectives," he told reporters with the troops in the area.

He said troops had also seized a school where lessons on one chalkboard taught insurgents how to make car bombs.

In Karabila, a town of 60,000 people, several buildings were damaged by shelling but there was little sign of residents, apart from some white surrender flags flying from homes.

The western Anbar region, which stretches from outside Baghdad to the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, is predominantly Sunni Arab and tribal and has become the heart of the insurgency over the past two years.

It is also believed to be the hideout of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant whose al Qaeda-allied group has claimed responsibility for many of Iraq's deadliest attacks.

The US military command this week blamed Zarqawi for a surge in violence since a new Shi'ite-led government came to power in late April, with more than 1000 Iraqis and around 120 US troops killed in rebel attacks since then.

Zarqawi has effectively declared war on the Shi'ite majority and the US-backed government.

Operation Dagger comes two weeks after a similar operation in the area found more than 50 weapons caches and an underground bunker that US commanders believe was a guerrilla hideout.

During Operation Spear, US troops found four Iraqi hostages who had been beaten and chained to a wall. Davis described it as a "torture or slaughterhouse facility" and said two of the four were Iraqi soldiers.

As US forces pushed the offensive out west, attacks continued in Baghdad and to the north of the capital.

A car bomb exploded next to an Iraqi army convoy in western Baghdad, wounding six Iraqi soldiers, and a roadside bomb blew up near a US convoy, killing a young child and wounding two other civilians, police and hospital officials said.

Gunmen also shot and seriously wounded a correspondent for Arabic satellite television channel Al Arabiya during an apparent kidnap attempt in central Baghdad, the station said. Jawad Khadhem was shot in the neck and was in serious condition, the executive editor of the Dubai-based channel said.

In Tuz Khurmatu, 200km north of Baghdad, clashes on Friday between US and Iraqi troops and rebels killed two US soldiers and two Iraqis, the US military said.

The rising toll of US troops, now at least 1718 since the start of the war, may be one of the reasons behind increasing concern in the United States over the war and the role President George W. Bush has played.

A New York Times/CBS News poll showed 42 per cent of respondents approved of the way Bush was handling his job, down from 51 per cent support after the November election.

- REUTERS