UPDATE U.S. Hits Republican Guard Near Euphrates By Geoffrey Mohan Times Staff Writer 8:49 AM PST, March 31, 2003 ALBU AZIZ, Iraq -- In its first offensive move since arriving in central Iraq last week, the second brigade of the U.S. Army's third infantry division swept into this village on the west bank of the Euphrates River today, killing about 26 soldiers, most of them from the Republican Guard. Led by the infantry and tank elements of the 4th Battalion, 64th Armored Regiment, the column encountered small-arms fire, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades from Iraqi forces in this town across the...