US marines target insurgents after battles

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.

About 800 US marines and 180 Iraqi soldiers moved into Haqlaniyah, one of a cluster of western towns in Anbar province around the Haditha Dam that is believed to be a stronghold of Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters.

Heavy Abrams tanks battled insurgents armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, while US jets destroyed at least four buildings - two of which were found booby-trapped with explosives, a US military statement said.