Troops Launch Offensive Against Border Town

Backed by warplanes dropping 500-pound bombs, about 3,500 U.S. and Iraqi troops assaulted a town near the Syrian border Saturday reputed to be a crossing for foreign fighters. The military was also planning house-to-house searches to root out resistance and hamper the guerrilla network operating in the Euphrates Valley.

The operation in Husaybah, about 200 miles northwest of Baghdad, was one of the largest since U.S. forces retook the Sunni Triangle city of Fallouja a year ago. Early reports, however, indicated only sporadic resistance, a sign that guerrillas might have fled town before the attack.

As of midnight, there were no reported casualties among the coalition forces or civilians as operations continued. The impoverished town, home to about 30,000 people, is surrounded by mountains and desert.

The 2nd Marine Division dubbed its attack on Husaybah “Operation Steel Curtain” and emphasized that 1,000 Iraqi soldiers were taking part alongside 2,500 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors. The assault was said to be the first time that battalion-sized Iraqi units have fought alongside U.S. forces in restive Al Anbar province, stretching west almost from Baghdad to the Syrian border. The province is a stronghold of Sunni-led insurgents fighting the American-backed Iraqi government.

A Marine Corps statement described Husaybah as “one of the main centers for transiting foreign fighters, equipment and money into Iraq.” The objectives were to restore security along the border and to destroy what was described as Al Qaeda terrorist network operations throughout Husaybah.

The military offensive was met by sporadic gunfire and roadside bombs in the town of low-built concrete houses. By late in the day, the military said, six bombs and mines had been found, and one suspected car bomb had been destroyed.

At least nine airstrikes were carried out against buildings suspected of sheltering insurgents firing on Marines and Iraqi troops, the military said. About 400 civilians who fled their homes during the assault were being housed in a temporary lodging area, the Marines said.

The assault began at dawn with four large explosions, and telephone service to the town was cut off, a witness in nearby Qaim told Associated Press.

Near the border with Iran, insurgents in two black sedans forced a minibus filled with Shiite Muslim passengers to stop and then shot them about 8 p.m. Saturday, police said.

According to information reaching the hospital in the city of Baqubah, 13 passengers were killed and two survived -- a 19-year-old man too injured to speak and a 5-year-old child. The shootings took place near Balad Ruz, 25 miles east of Baqubah.

The killings come at a time of sectarian tensions between Iraq’s Sunni Arabs, who were favored during the regime of ousted President Saddam Hussein, and Shiite Arabs, who were oppressed under Hussein but now dominate the government.

A prominent Sunni politician in Baghdad, Fakhri Qaisi, secretary of the Salfiya Board and member of the National Dialogue Council, was seriously wounded in the chest and arm in a drive-by shooting near his home in Baghdad’s Ghazaliya neighborhood, a police source said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military reported the deaths of four service members across Iraq. Three were killed Friday, and the fourth died Saturday as a result of a noncombat road accident near Tallil air base in southern Iraq. Three other soldiers were injured.

A Times special correspondent in Baqubah contributed to this report.