Topic: US says cleared western Iraq town of insurgents

Team Infidel

BAGHDAD, Nov 9 (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi troops have finished
clearing insurgents out of a small western town near the Syrian border in an
operation against al Qaeda militants in the frontier region, the military
said on Wednesday.
The U.S. military said the main clearing operation in Qusayba was
completed on Tuesday night but patrols and raids were still being conducted
against any remaining resistance.
"Iraqi soldiers, U.S. Marines and sailors continue to find roadside
bombs, car bombs and weapons caches throughout the city," it said on the
fifth day of Operation Steel Curtain in the far west of the largely Sunni
Arab province of Anbar.
The U.S. says it has detained around 180 insurgents and killed at
least 36 more since the operation kicked off on Saturday. One U.S. marine
was shot dead.
Operation Steel Curtain is the latest in a series of offensives
aimed at securing western Iraq against Sunni Arab insurgents and foreign
fighters before the Dec. 15 election.
Sectarian tensions are dominating campaigning for the poll, where
the 20 percent minority Sunni Arabs are expected to vote in large numbers
for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The U.S. statement said around 900 residents of Qusayba displaced by
the fighting were being housed nearby by Iraqi forces and would remain there
until it was safe to return.
After similar previous operations in the region, U.S. forces have
withdrawn to their bases after clearing the area and insurgents have simply
moved back in after them.
This time the U.S. military says Iraqi troops will stay in the area
to stop that happening.
"Operation Steel Curtain continues as Iraqi army soldiers and U.S.
forces set conditions for a permanent security presence within the city,"
the statement said.
Al Qaeda's military wing in Iraq has said in an unverified statement
posted on a Web site that the homes of anyone who "collaborated" with the
military would be "brought down on their heads".

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