THE US military yesterday reported that suicide bombings fell in November to their lowest level in seven months after joint US-Iraqi operations west of the capital.

A suicide bomber blew up his car outside a hospital south of Baghdad today as US troops were handing out food to children, killing 30 people and injuring about 40, including four Americans.

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 fighting insurgents near the Syrian border ran into fierce resistance yesterday with troops encountering dozens of explosive booby traps and killing at least 30 insurgents, the military 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.

RESIDENTS fled an Iraqi town on the Syrian border yesterday during a lull in fighting between 3,500 US and Iraqi troops and suspected al-Qaida insurgents armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Insurgents armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades battled about 3,500 US and Iraqi troops today on the streets of Husaybah in the second day of an offensive to rout al-Qaida from its stronghold along the Syrian border.

The American military launched a major new offensive today, involving about 2,500 Marines, soldiers and sailors near the Syrian border, aimed at destroying an al-Qaida in Iraq network.

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

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.

AL-QAIDA in Iraq has urged supporters to intensify attacks on US and Iraqi forces during the holy month of Ramadan, which began yesterday, and called for a boycott of next week’s constitutional referendum.

The US military today launched a major offensive in a cluster of cities in the Euphrates River valley aimed at insurgents who were using the area as a safe haven and who had killed 20 Marines there in August.

US troops battled insurgents holed up in houses and driving explosives-laden vehicles in a second town near the Syrian border, killing 28 in an expansion of their two-day-old offensive chasing al Qaida fighters along the Euphrates River valley, the military said.

A leading Sunni cleric called for religious and ethnic groups to take a stand against violence as Iraq endured a third consecutive day of sectarian killings - the worst, a suicide car bombing at a Shiite mosque that killed at least 12 worshippers.

Two suicide car bombers struck within a minute of each other and just half a mile apart in south Baghdad today, killing at least seven policemen and raising the day’s bombing death toll in the capital to at least 31.

A suicide bomber killed sixteen policemen in Baghdad today, a day after the capital suffered its bloodiest day as US troops and insurgents clashed in the troubled western town of Ramadi.

INSURGENTS fled to the countryside through a network of tunnels to escape an Iraqi-US force that reported killing about 150 rebels while storming the militant bastion of Tal Afar.

Fighting eased today on the second day of a sweep through a militant stronghold near the Syrian border as insurgents melted into the countryside - many escaping through a tunnel network they dug under the ancient city in the north of Iraq.

US marines and Iraqi troops pounded insurgents with bombs and tank cannons yesterday during a major offensive along a stretch of the Euphrates River valley where 22 marines were killed this week.

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.