50 insurgents killed in US-Iraqi offensive

A joint US-Iraqi offensive has killed some 50 insurgents so far in battles that raged today around a blistering hot frontier town in the American military’s latest campaign to stop foreign fighters from pouring through neighbouring Syria.

Operation Spear, or Romhe in Arabic, was in its second day in Karabilah, about 200 miles west of Baghdad. Karabilah, which is part of the restive Anbar province that straddles the Iraqi-Syrian border, has long been considered an insurgent hotbed.