US continues offensive against al-Qaida insurgents
US troops pushed forward in their biggest operation this year in western Iraq, seeking to retake three Euphrates River towns from al-Qaida insurgents, with at least five US service members killed so far in the fighting.
Operation River Gate – launched at the start of the holy month of Ramadan - was the second US offensive in a week in Anbar province, near the Syrian border.
Al-Qaida in Iraq called for intensified attacks on US and Iraqi forces during the Muslim period of fasting, which started yesterday for the nation’s Sunnis.
The offensive is aimed at putting down Sunni-led insurgents intensifying their campaign of violence ahead of an October 15 vote on Iraq’s new constitution.
On the political front, US and UN officials were trying to avert a Sunni Arab boycott of the referendum, which would deeply undermine the validity of a constitution Washington hopes will unite Iraq’s factions and weaken the insurgency.
