A suicide car bomber attacked a police patrol today on a busy commercial street, killing at least 17 people and wounding 26, officials said.

Insurgents attacked US and Iraqi troops in western Iraq, triggering fire fights that left 32 insurgents dead, a US military statement said today

Five US Marines died in a combat operation near the Syrian border in western Iraq today, the US. military reported. The troops from Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division, were killed in a fire fight in Obeidi, 185 miles west of Baghdad, a statement said.

US and Iraqi forces swept through most of an insurgent stronghold near the Syrian border today, encountering pockets of fierce resistance, destroying five unexploded car bombs and killing at least 30 guerrilla fighters, the US command reported.

AMERICAN and Iraqi troops launched a dawn assault yesterday on another town near the Syrian border and killed 50 insurgents, a US statement said, while the Interior Ministry reported that a car bomb detonated outside a gate leading into the fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad, killing two South Africans.

Two United States marines were killed in combat and a soldier died in a vehicle accident in Iraq, the military said in a statement today.

IRAQI Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said yesterday that foreign fighters regularly slip into Iraq from Syria and called on authorities there to do more to stop them as five US troops were killed.

A Sunni Arab coalition has submitted its list of candidates for the December election, joining other political factions in the race and signalling greater Sunni participation in the process.

Two US Marines were killed by a roadside bomb during fighting with insurgents in western Iraq, the military said today.

A US Marine was killed during fighting with insurgents in western Iraq, the military said today.

Three US Marines were killed by a roadside bomb in western Iraq, the military said today.

Five US Army soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb during Iraq’s constitutional referendum, the military said today.

Two United States Army soldiers died of wounds sustained during an offensive in western Iraq, the military said today.

Four US soldiers attached to the Marines were killed in two separate roadside bombings near the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, the military said today, raising the number of American forces who have died in Iraq since the start of the war to 1,903.

A suicide car bomber struck a US convoy waiting at a crossroads today in central Baghdad, killing seven people – including one American soldier – and wounding more than 90. More than a dozen others died in scattered attacks across the capital.

A US MARINE amphibious assault vehicle on patrol during combat operations near the Syrian border hit a roadside bomb yesterday, and 14 marines were killed in one of the deadliest single attacks in Iraq against US forces.

Fourteen US Marines and a civilian interpreter were killed early today in western Iraq, the US command said.

THE US military said yesterday that seven marines had been killed by insurgents in western Iraq, pushing the death toll for Americans since the start of the war past 1,800.

Six US Marines were killed in fighting in western Iraq, the US military said today.

SIX car bombs targeted US and Iraqi troops across Baghdad yesterday, killing as many as 20 people, and the military said two US Marines died the day before in a roadside bombing near the Jordanian border.

US troops killed 10 insurgents in an ethnically-mixed city north of Baghdad, while 10 Iraqi troops died in two separate attacks north-east of the capital in a surge of violence following a relative lull last week.

A suicide car bomb killed an Iraqi Shiite politician and three others near Baghdad as they were heading to parliament today, an attack likely to further fuel tensions between the minority Sunni Arabs and the country’s Shiite majority.

More than 1,000 US troops and Iraqi forces launched Operation Sword today in a bid to crush insurgents and foreign fighters in western Iraq, making it the third major offensive in the area in recent weeks.

A roadside bomb killed two US Marines in western Iraq, the military said today.

Five US Marines died from wounds sustained in a roadside bomb blast in western Iraq, the military said today.

FIVE US Marines have been killed in a roadside bomb blast in western Iraq.

AMERICAN troops backed by helicopters and war planes have launched a major offensive against insurgents in a remote desert area near the Syrian border.

American troops backed by helicopters and war planes have launched a major offensive against insurgents in a remote desert area near the Syrian border, and about 75 militants were killed in the first 24 hours, the US military said.

Three US soldiers were killed by bombs in central Iraq today, the military said.