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United States and Iraqi troops, backed by US and British aircraft, have hunted and killed foreign fighters in the town of Karabila near the Syrian border. They prowled house to house yesterday in search of guerrilla bases. In Baghdad, a suicide bombing claimed by Jordanian al- Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group killed at least 23 people, many of them police and security guards eating lunch at a restaurant outside the Green Zone government compound. It was the bloodiest attack in the capital since a major crackdown on insurgent activity began in Baghdad a month ago. Zarqawi and Sunni Arab...

LONDON, JUNE 19 (KUNA) -- British Royal Air Force warplanes have been called into action in Iraq alongside American forces fighting close to the Syrian border, the BBC reported Sunday. The British GR4 Tornadoes were supporting a US operation against insurgents, the American military said. They used laser-guided bombs and missiles to support an attack on a building in Karabila, the BBC said. Around 1,000 US troops are targeting insurgent hide-outs in the offensive, known as Operation "Spear". The operation has seen heavy fighting in Karabila and other areas around the city of Qaim, in north-western Iraq's Anbar province, correspondents...

KARABILA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops, backed by Iraqi forces and U.S. and British aircraft, pushed on Sunday into the northern section of a town near the Syrian border which they say has become a stronghold for foreign fighters. In Baghdad, a suicide bomber eluded a month-long crackdown and killed at least 16 people and wounded 29, many of them police and security guards eating lunch, when he walked into a busy restaurant close to the Green Zone government compound. Karabila, now nearly deserted but once home to 60,000 people, and other areas around the city of Qaim, are the...

KARABILA, Iraq, Sunday, June 19 - Marines on an operation to eliminate insurgents that began Friday broke through the outside wall of a building in this small rural village to find a torture center equipped with electric wires, a noose, handcuffs, a 574-page jihad manual - and four beaten and shackled Iraqis. The American military has found torture houses after invading towns heavily populated by insurgents - like Falluja, where the anti-insurgent assault last fall uncovered almost 20 such sites. But rarely have they come across victims who have lived to tell the tale. The men said they told the...

KARABILA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces launched their second major offensive in western Iraq in as many days on Saturday, ratcheting up the hunt for rebels and weapons in the Euphrates river valley that stretches to the Syrian border. Faced with slipping poll numbers, President Bush asked Americans to show patience, saying that since U.S. troops overthrew Saddam Hussein, Iraq had become a "central front in the war on terror" and a "vital test" for U.S. security. Around 1,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers, supported by Iraqi troops and backed by fighter jets and helicopters, launched Operation Dagger in the desert...

KARABILA, Iraq (CNN) -- The joint U.S.-Iraqi Operation Spear continued Saturday as Marines, sailors and Iraqi security forces fought insurgents in Karabila, near the Syrian border. The most intense fighting was concentrated in the center of town, where enemy fighters were holed up in a bunker complex. Marines also found four people who appeared to have been taken captive and beaten. Jane Arraf, CNN's senior Baghdad correspondent, is embedded with U.S. troops taking part in the mission. She spoke with CNN anchor Betty Nguyen by phone during the pitched battle. ARRAF: What I see in front of me is absolutely...