Two US soldiers killed in Iraq

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

The soldiers, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), were hit by small arms fire while conducting combat operations during the offensive against insurgents near the city of Haqlaniyah on Friday, the military said.

The River Gate offensive was one of two US and Iraqi offensives under way in Anbar Province, a Sunni-led insurgency stronghold that stretches along the Euphrates River Valley from the Syrian border to the city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad.

The deaths brought to 1,952 the number of US service members who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.