US offensive kills 29 in Iraq

A US offensive aimed at uprooting al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents in western Iraq before next week’s constitutional referendum killed 29 militants, including 20 who died when warplanes bombed an abandoned hotel they had commandeered, the military said today.

The fighting occurred yesterday during one of two offensives being conducted by thousands of US troops and hundreds of Iraqi soldiers in several Euphrates River towns that insurgents were virtually controlling after the withdrawal of most Iraqi police and soldiers.

On Saturday, the “Iron Fist” offensive by about 1,000 US forces began in towns near the Syrian border. In Iron Fist yesterday, warplanes dropped four precision-guided bombs on an abandoned three-storey hotel commandeered by al Qaida in Iraq insurgents Husayba, killing 20 militants, the military said.

In Karabila, Marines backed by Abrams tanks killed two insurgents. Warplanes also killed seven insurgents by destroying three buildings east of Karabila. The 29 deaths raised the insurgent death toll in Iron Fist to 71.