Assault made against insurgents

Husaybah is thought to be a crossing for foreign fighters and insurgents.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- About 3,500 U.S. and Iraqi troops backed by warplanes dropping 500-pound bombs assaulted a town near the Syrian border Saturday reputed to be a crossing point for foreign fighters, planning house-to-house searches to root out all resistance and hamper the guerrilla network operating in the Euphrates Valley.
The operation in Husaybah, about 200 miles northwest of Baghdad, the capital, was one of the largest since U.S. forces retook the Sunni triangle city of Fallujah a year ago. Early reports, however, indicated only sporadic resistance, a sign that guerrillas might have fled the town before the attack began.
As of midnight local time, there was no reported casualties among the coalition or civilians forces, as operations continued.
The 2nd Marine Division dubbed its attack on Husaybah "Operation Steel Curtain," and underlined that 1,000 soldiers of the Iraqi army 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 home to a major portion of the Sunni-led resistance to the American-backed Iraqi government.
What took place
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 the Al-Qaida terror network operating throughout Husaybah.
The force 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 suicide 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 civilian residents fleeing their homes during the assault were being put into a temporary lodging area, the Marines said.
With about 30,000 residents, Husaybah is an impoverished border town surrounded by mountains and desert.
Elsewhere in Iraq, insurgents in two black sedans forced a minibus filled with Shiite Muslim passengers to stop and then shot them at about 8 p.m. Saturday near the Iranian border, 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, 30 miles south of Baqubah.