Separate air crashes killed four American and four Italian troops, officials said today, and the governor of Anbar province was killed during clashes between US forces and the insurgents who abducted him three weeks ago.

Gunmen freed the kidnapped governor of Iraq’s western Anbar province today after US troops ended a week-long offensive in the region, relatives and a government official said.

US FORCES hunting down followers of Iraq’s most wanted terrorist pushed into a lawless region north of the Euphrates River near the Syrian border yesterday.

Gunmen have kidnapped the governor of Iraq’s western Anbar province and told his family he would be released when US forces withdraw from Qaim, the site of a major new offensive against followers of Iraq’s most wanted militant, relatives said today.