& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

6 US marines killed in Iraq

29 insurgents killed in fighting, 20 bodies found

AFP, REUTERS, Baghdad
Six US marines and 29 insurgents were killed Thursday in fighting in western Iraq in a drive to root out militants while Iraqi police have recovered 22 bodies near the Iran border, the US military said in a statement yesterday.
Four died when killed by a bomb explosion near Al Karmah, near Fallujah, and two by a roadside bomb in the vicinity of Al Qaim, near the Syrian border.
The latest deaths bring to at least
1,946 the number of US military personnel killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion of March 2003, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.
Earlier US troops have killed at least 29 insurgents in western Iraq in their drive to root out militants waging a bloody struggle to topple the US-backed Baghdad government, the military said yesterday.
About 1,000 US Marines and other combat units moved into western regions of al Anbar province on the Syrian border a week ago in "Operation Iron Fist," which US commanders said aimed to stop the flow of arms and foreign fighters into Iraq.
The military said at least 20 insurgents had been confirmed killed on Wednesday when US aircraft bombed a three-storey hotel in the town of Husayba.
US tanks killed two more gunmen in the nearby town of Karabila after moving in to support forces who had come under small arms fire. A further seven insurgents were shot dead east of the town the same day in a gunfight with US marines, a military statement said.
The operation "aims to deny al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists the ability to operate freely in the Euphrates River Valley and to prevent the terrorists from influencing the local population through murder and intimidation,"the statement said.
US officials say the western Iraq campaign will continue at least through December, seeking to turn back a rising tide of insurgent violence before an October 15 referendum on a new constitution and a vote in December for a new parliament.
The two polls, and the expected start this month of the trial of Saddam Hussein, have inflamed tensions within Iraq's Sunni Arab minority, which fears its former influence will be permanently lost to majority Shias and their Kurdish allies.
US and Iraqi officials say the domestic insurgency has been augmented by foreign Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq -- one of the most feared -- which have sent fighters to the country to take on US forces.
Hospital sources in the region say a number of civilians have been hurt in the fighting, which has seen US troops backed by fighter aircraft pound local towns and villages thought to be insurgent strongholds.
Washington and Baghdad see the stretch of the Euphrates valley running from the Syrian border to the town of Ramadi, 110 km west of Baghdad, as the main entry route for arms and insurgents. Syria denies being used as a transitpoint.
About 4,800 US forces and 4,200 Iraqi troops are engaged in campaigns throughout the Euphrates valley. Friday's US statement gave no details of US casualties in the operations.
In a separate statement, the military said in one wing of the campaign, dubbed "River Gate," US Marines and Iraqi soldiers escaped injurywhen theywere attacked by a roadside bomb wired from a nearby mosque inthe central town ofHaditha.
"Iraqi soldiers and Marines discovered the initiating device for the explosive inside the mosque. In addition, numerous artillery rounds, pre-wired and ready to use as roadside bombs, were hidden on the mosque grounds," the statement said.
Meanwhile, Iraqi police have found the bodies of 22 men handcuffed and shot dead in an area near the Iran border, officials saidon Friday.
Police said the bodies were found near Badra town in Wasit province, 69 miles southeast ofBaghdad, on Thursday.
They were taken to a local morgue and then transported to the Iraqi capital Baghdad where many of the victims had apparentlylived, policesaid.
Family members chanting "There is no God but God" picked up some of the bodies on Friday, taking them home in flag-draped coffins. Some family members said their relatives had been abducted from their homes almost three months ago.
One old woman walked along the street nearby screaming "where's my brother, where's my brother."
Many of the victims appeared to be members of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority, but therewas no confirmation ofthat.
Sunni insurgents are waging a bloody struggle with the Shia majority and its northern Kurdish allies. Some Sunni leaders have accused Shia militia of carrying out revenge attacks against Sunnis.
Police said shepherds in Wasit discovered the bodies in an area between Badra and the neighbouring town of Jassem and alerted local police.