BAGHDAD - US-led forces hunting insurgents in northwestern Iraq killed 10 rebels including an imam after they came under attack on Wednesday, while two marines were wounded, the US military said.
Clashes erupted in Haditha early Wednesday after 1,000 US and Iraqi troops moved into the Euphrates river city to track down insurgents the military said escaped a previous operation this month near the border with Syria.
"Six insurgents were killed in the battle and two marines were reported wounded," it said, adding that "local citizens identified one of the attackers killed as an imam (who) was firing... an AK-47 assault rifle."
Four more insurgents were killed in other clashes in the area, it said, adding that checkpoints have been set up around the city, some 260 kilometres (160 miles) northwest of the capital, to prevent insurgents fleeing.
The US military said it had seized a number of concealed weapons in the operation, which comes two weeks after an earlier sweep further west along the Syrian border that led to hundreds of arrests.
Operation New Market "is focused on disrupting insurgent activity in the vicinity of Haditha and maintaining the pressure on insurgents begun with Operation Matador", said the statement, referring to a week-long sweep in western Iraq begun May 7.
The statement said there had been a recent upsurge in roadside bombings and mortar attacks on US forces in and around Haditha.
A defence ministry source said the operation involved around 350 Iraqis soldiers, "but it is really the Americans who are carrying out the offensive."
Some 75 insurgents were killed in the earlier operation in the restive Al-Anbar province, according to the US military, which said some were linked to Iraq`s most wanted man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al-Qaeda leader in the country.
The aim is to "capture terrorists who managed to escape" from the battle further north along the river, said the defence ministry source.
It was not immediately known if there had been any arrests.
05/25/2005 14:12 GMT