Some 1,000 U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces launched a second offensive Saturday against "insurgents" in Anbar province, this time targeting the shores of a remote lake just north of Baghdad.
Operation Dagger, or Khanjar in Arabic, aims to uncover training camps and weapons caches in the southern part of the Lake Tharthar area in central Iraq, The AP reported.
"Operation Khanjar is focused on locating hidden weapons caches and denying insurgents sanctuary in the area that is a suspected insurgent and terrorist logistical hub," Marine Capt. Jeffrey Pool said from Ramadi, the provincial capital.
The operation commenced a day after another 1,000 Marines and Iraqi forces, backed by tanks, made their way into Karabilah, 200 miles west of Baghdad in Anbar province. U.S. fighter aircraft dropped bombs and the tanks fired shells at local buildings.
The Marines said Saturday that about 50 "insurgents" had been killed and 100 had been captured in that campaign, codenamed Operation Spear.
"Marines and Iraqi soldiers continued operations through the night securing key objectives in and around the city while conducting presence patrols in order to hamper the insurgents movement," Pool added.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber killed five Iraqis, including three soldiers, in the city of Fallujah. Ten others were injured in the Friday afternoon attack, including six soldiers. The bomber struck an Iraqi army convoy.
In nearby Habbaniya, four Iraqis were killed and 15 were wounded when a car bomb exploded near a mosque Friday.
North of Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a US-Iraqi convoy near Baquba, wounding four police early Saturday, the Iraqi army said, according to AFP.
