BOMB blasts killed six US Marines in western Iraq yesterday and US forces killed 29 militants in offensives aimed at uprooting al-Qaida insurgents ahead of the country’s vote on a new constitution.

A US offensive aimed at uprooting al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents in western Iraq before next week’s constitutional referendum killed 29 militants, including 20 who died when warplanes bombed an abandoned hotel they had commandeered, the military said today.

US forces launched airstrikes today in a town near the Syrian border in western Iraq, part of a three-day offensive against insurgents that has killed at least 36 militants since the fighting began, officials said.