US and Iraqi forces fighting insurgents near the Syrian border encountered fierce resistance today, with troops encountering dozens of explosive booby traps and killing at least 30 insurgents, a military statement said.

US and Iraqi troops battled insurgents house-to-house yesterday, the third day of an assault against al-Qaida-led militants in a town near the Syrian border as the US command reported the first American death in the operation.

US and Iraqi troops battled house-to-house with insurgents today, the third day of a major offensive against al-Qaida insurgents in a town near Iraq’s border with Syrian, and the US command reported the first American death in the operation.

US jets bombed two insurgent “safe houses” near the Syrian border today in an attack aimed at al-Qaida in Iraq.

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.

A car bomb exploded near a busy market and cinema in eastern Baghdad today, killing at least 17 people and wounding 65, police said.

Two US Marines were killed and 14 wounded when an explosive device hit their troop transport vehicle during a large American offensive being fought against suspected insurgents in western Iraq, the military said today.

A car bomb exploded near a market in eastern Baghdad today, killing at least six people and wounding 13, police said.

Two car bombs exploded in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk today, including one targeting a Shiite mosque.

Suspected insurgents killed a brigadier general as he drove to work at the Ministry of Defence in Baghdad today, police said.

A string of bombings in Iraqi cities – including one by a man with explosives strapped to his body – killed more than 60 people and wounded more than 100 today as US troops pushed on in an offensive aimed at followers of Iraq’s most-wanted terrorist.

Using car bombs and a man with explosives strapped to his body, insurgents killed more than 60 people in three Iraqi cities today, police 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.

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.