U.S.-Led Force Attacks In Anbar Province

28 June 2005 (RFE/RL) -- More than 1,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers and some 100 Iraqi soldiers opened an offensive today aimed at insurgents and foreign fighters in western Iraq.

It was the third heavy offensive in the area in recent weeks.

U.S. military spokesman, Marine Captain Jeffrey Pool, said the action -- codenamed Operation Sword -- centers on communities along the Euphrates River between the towns of Hit and Hadithah about 200 kilometers northwest of Baghdad in Anbar Province, where there has been substantial insurgent activity.

(Reuters, AP)