Gunmen attacked U.S. bases and government offices with mortars and rockets Thursday before dispersing in the city of Ramadi, residents and police said. 
 
The attacks in this western Baghdad town took place as local tribal leaders and U.S. military officials were to hold their second meeting in a week at the governor's office in the city center. According to AP, police Lt. Mohammed Al-Obaidi said at least four mortar rounds landed near the U.S. base on the eastern edge of the city, but that there were no reports of casualties.

Meanwhile, American and Iraqi forces have launched a joint operation in an region west of Baghdad, while US soldiers nabbed 33 suspects in a sweep of southern parts of the Iraqi capital.

Some 500 Iraqi troops joined 2,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors in a bid to clear "insurgents" from an area on the eastern side of the Euphrates river near Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad, the U.S. command said in a statement, cited by the AP.

In a statement, the US military said the Hai Al Becker region "is suspected to be an al-Qaeda safe area and base of operations for the manufacture of car bombs, roadside bombs." It described the area as a transit point for foreign fighters infiltrating from Syria.

Elsewhere, a  U.S. Navy F/A-18 jet fired a missile at "an insurgent position" in the Baghdad area, and Air Force F-16s were in action in support of U.S. and Iraqi units northwest of the capital, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday.

In another development, two American soldiers died of wounds suffered in combat, the U.S. military said Thursday, raising the U.S. death toll in November to at least 83.

© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)