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US launches offensive in western Iraq

4 more GIs, 10 Iraqis killed in attacks

AP, AFP, Baghdad
About 1,000 US Marines and Iraqi forces launched attacks in western Iraq in an operation aimed at disrupting insurgents and foreign fighters in the Euphrates River valley, the US military said yesterday.
Rebels killed 10 people in Iraq yesterday as a crucial meeting of national leaders called to settle constitutional problems was postponed because of an emergency session of the Kurdish autonomous parliament.
The two-day delay came against a backdrop of unremitting violence that has killed about 40 US troops in 10 days, and new al-Qaeda warnings that the United States and Britain risked more death and destruction if they do notleave Iraq and other Muslimlands.
The operation, dubbed Quick Strike, began Wednesday with Iraqi soldiers and Marines positioning their units, said a military statement. They focused on an area centred around the cities of Haditha, Haqlaniyah, and Parwana, about 200km northwest of Baghdad.
On Wednesday, 14 Marines and their civilian translator were killed when their vehicle was hit by a massive roadside bomb near Haditha as they were travelling inside a lightly armoured vehicle.
On Friday, US and Iraqi troops, including Special Operations forces, moved into the city of Haqlaniyah, the Marine statement said. US jets conducted an airstrike on insurgents hiding in buildings outside of the town.
Residents in the area said US and Iraqi forces had cordoned off Haqlaniyah, about 220km northwest of Baghdad, and began conducting house to house searches. American warplanes were hovering overhead and a number of heavy explosions were heard. Witnesses said 500-pound bombs were being dropped in the area.
The US military has defended its operations in western Iraq, insisting it is reducing insurgent attacks, despite the deaths of the 14 Marines. The extremist Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed responsibility in a Web posting and said its fighters used two bombs to destroy the vehicle.
Four more US service members were killed in action Wednesday, the military said three in Baghdad and one in Ramadi.
US military spokesman Brig. Gen. Donald Alston said American military operations in Anbar province, which includes the area where the Marines died, have succeeded in disrupting insurgent activities.
"We still have deaths. We still have suicide car bombs," he said. "But the numbers we see indicate (the insurgents) can't generate the same tempo, and I think that's because we've had some degree of effect in interdicting these forces."
Alston cited figures showing there were 13 car bombs in Iraq last week the lowest weekly number since April. "There's a clear indication to me that the tempo has decreased."
US troops have stepped up operations in recent months in Anbar, the centre of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency and a major avenue for foreign fighters infiltrating the country from Syria.
Alston warned that militants will likely rally their forces in a concerted effort to derail the country's political progress, including a referendum on the constitution in October and an election in December.
The president's office said a key meeting scheduled for Friday by political leaders to hammer out differences in the draft constitution has been postponed until Sunday. The statement issued Friday did not say why the meeting was delayed.
The gathering was called by constitutional committee chairman Humam Hammoudi, who promised the National Assembly that the draft charter would be ready by the Aug. 15 deadline, provided the country's political leaders reach compromises on key issues including federalism, the role of Islam, and distribution of national wealth. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari spent Friday in Najaf meeting with the country's top Shia Muslim cleric, the highly influential Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The two were expected to talk about developments with the constitution.
US leaders, who pushed hard for the committee not to seek an extension on completing the charter, considers the constitutional process vital to maintain political momentum, undermine the insurgency and pave the way for the Americans and their coalition partners to draw down troops next year.
US commanders have warned that although the number of vehicle and roadside bombings are decreasing, they are increasing in potency and sophistication. Bombs on the roads or planted in vehicles account for 70 percent to 80 percent of the US deaths in Iraq, command spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Boylan said.
A roadside bomb late Wednesday killed three US soldiers in Baghdad, the US command said. A Marine was killed Wednesday by small arms fire in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province 70 miles west of Baghdad, the command added.
There has been no let-up in insurgent violence, with 10 Iraqis killed Friday after some 40 US military personnel died in the past 10 days, one of the deadliest tolls for the
Americans since the March 2003 invasion.
Wednesday was one of the worst days for US forces as 18 troops were killed in various attacks across Iraq, 14 of themin a single roadside bombing.
US President George W. Bush vowed to "stay the course" in Iraq despite a new threat from al-Qaeda second-in-command that was aired Thursday warning the United States and Britain of more death and destruction.
"We will complete the job in Iraq," he said. "And the job is this: We will help the Iraqis develop a democracy."
Al-Jaafari announced a new 12-point security plan. He gave few details but said it included steps to improve intelligence, protect infrastructure and prevent foreign fighters from entering the country.
"We will not hesitate in saying this: We are in a state of war. It is one of the most dangerous types of war because it is not a conventional or a war of borders," he said.
Earlier at least 21 people were killed in attacks across Iraq Thursday as US President George W. Bush vowed to complete his country's mission there after al-Qaeda warned Western allies risked losing thousands of livesin the war-torn country.
The threat came from Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a video aired on AlJazeera television as Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari unveiled a new security plan to try to win the country's war against insurgents.
Bush said al-Qaeda wanted to drive the United States and its allies out of the "broader Middle East" but vowed to "stay the course."
"We will complete the job in Iraq," the US president said. "And the job is this: We will help the Iraqis develop a democracy."
In his latest video, Zawahiri had warned Britain and the United States of more horror and destruction in a statement rebroadcast around the world.
"The Americans... will see horror that would make them forget the horror they saw in Vietnam," Zawahiri said.
Jaafari had earlier outlined a 12-point plan to fight insurgents which included strengthening intelligence coordination and more efforts to secure the country's borders to prevent infiltration from abroad.
"We are at war... the worst kind of war," Jaafari said.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution strongly condemning attacks in Iraq, including the murder and kidnapping of foreign diplomats, while the United States urged Syria and Iran to honour their pledge to support stabilityin Iraq.
The resolution "condemns without reservation and in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks that have taken place in Iraq, and regards any act of terrorism as a threat to peace and security."
It followed the killing on Wednesday of 14 US marines in a roadside bombing in the western town of Haditha, that brought US losses in Iraq in the past 10 days to at least 39.