Baghdad, Iraq – U.S. jets struck targets Tuesday near the Syrian border where al-Qaeda has expanded its presence, and civilians fled fighting in the northern city of Tall Afar, complaining they were running short of food and water.
To the south, U.S. troops handed the Iraqi army control of a Shiite city that saw bitter fighting last year – a sign of the uneven pattern of insecurity in this fragmented country.
The U.S. command also said four more Americans had been killed in action.
The airstrikes took place near Karabilah, about 185 miles west of Baghdad and one of a cluster of towns near the Syrian border used by foreign fighters to slip into Iraq.
In the first attack, Marine F/A-18 jets dropped bombs shortly after midnight on two bridges across the Euphrates River that the U.S. command said insurgents used to move fighters and arms toward Baghdad and other cities.
Hours later, a Marine jet destroyed a building used by insurgents to fire on U.S. and Iraqi troops, a U.S. statement said.
One Iraqi soldier was wounded when Marines and Iraqi soldiers stormed the building, killing two foreigners and arresting three, it said.
Late Tuesday, Iraqi civilians reported a suicide bomber struck a checkpoint in Hadithah, 60 miles east of Karabilah. There were no reports of casualties.
The airstrikes occurred about 6 miles east of the border city of Qaim, major parts of which have fallen under control of al-Qaeda-linked foreign fighters.
Iraqi officials and residents say al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, took over parts of Qaim after residents fled fighting between tribes supporting and opposing the insurgents.
The U.S. military maintains a presence in the area, but U.S. officers have complained privately that they don’t have enough troops to secure Qaim.
One U.S. soldier was killed Monday in Tall Afar, the military reported. Two others died Tuesday in a roadside bombing in Baghdad, and another was killed the day before near Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
