Hundreds of U.S. Marines are pushing on with a major offensive in western Iraq, where insurgents abducted a local governor to press for an end to the fighting.
The U.S. military says Marines crossed the Euphrates River to the north Tuesday as they pursued insurgents and followers of the most wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. As many as 100 insurgents have been killed in the operation, which began early Sunday near the Syrian border. U.S. officials describe the insurgents involved as better equipped and trained, and more willing to fight than most other insurgent forces seen in Iraq.
Gunmen also kidnapped the governor of al-Anbar province -- where the U.S. operation is taking place. In other developments, insurgents carried out two separate suicide car bombings in Baghdad, killing at least seven people and wounding 19 others.