Posted on 09/15/2004 5:54:54 AM PDT by TexKat
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces and insurgents clashed in the restive Iraqi province of Al-Anbar on Wednesday, killing 10 Iraqis and wounding six, health ministry officials said.
Al-Anbar includes the western cities of Falluja and Ramadi, which have fallen into rebel hands. U.S.-led forces have launched an offensive in Al-Anbar to retake pockets under the control of insurgents in time for elections due in January 2005.
Washington says Falluja and Ramadi have become a haven for fighters loyal to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has claimed responsibility for a wave of suicide bombings and the killings of foreign hostages.
A heavily armed Iraqi soldier stands guard at a checkpoint outside the restive city of Ramadi. Ten people were killed and six wounded in exchanges of fire between insurgents and US marines in Ramadi.(AFP/File/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
US soldier on patrol in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf. A US marine was killed in Al-Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the frontline of the Sunni Arab insurgency in Iraq.(AFP/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
US soldiers on patrol in the Iraqi capital. US soldiers discovered three heads and decapitated bodies, thought to be of Iraqi civilians, on a roadside north of Baghdad.(AFP/File/Patrick Baz)
US soldiers and Iraqi National Guard block the entrance of Tall Afar. Goaded into battle by US troops keen to curb a soaring casualty toll, the Iraqi nation guard got off to a bumpy start but frontline experience is earning it much-needed legitimacy and confidence(AFP/Mujahed Mohammed)
An Iraqi checks his house that was destroyed destroyed in heavy battles between US troops and insurgents in the northern town of Tall Afar. The US-led coalition lifted its siege on Tall Afar, which has been severely damaged by intense fighting.(AFP/Mujahed Mohammed)
An Iraqi policeman escorts Iraqi children in central Baghdad holding a banner reading in Arabic, "Lift your hands from innocents. Let's live with love and peace", as they take part in a demonstration calling for peace, condemning violence and terrorism and also demanding the release of the two Italian humanitarian workers who were kidnapped last week in Baghdad(AFP/Sabah Arar)
Iraqis mourn over coffins draped with the Kurdish flag of the twelve policemen killed the previous day in an attack on their mini-bus in the northeastern city of Baquba, in the village of Qanaqin.(AFP/Ali Yussef)
Bodies of Iraqi policemen lie at a morgue in Baquba after their vehicle was attacked by armed insurgents.(AFP/Ali Yussef)
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