About 35-hundred U.S. and Iraqi troops battled insurgents on Sunday in a town near the Syrian border, in the second day of an offensive aimed at uprooting insurgents from the region.
U.S. commanders said the coalition force was encountering small arms fire and homemade bombs in Husaybah. General Donald Alston said no U.S. or Iraqi forces have been killed, and said he had no information about insurgent or civilian casualties.
Coalition airstrikes hit what were described as insurgent strongpoints in the Euphrates river town on Saturday.
U.S. commanders say Husaybah is one of the first stops for foreign insurgents who enter Iraq from nearby Syria.
Some Sunni Arab politicians and tribal leaders in the area complained that the operation endangers civilians and could lead to greater instability in Sunni sections of the country.
Elsewhere, at least 11 people in the same family were killed late Saturday when gunmen ambushed a minibus northeast of Baghdad.
U.S. commanders said the coalition force was encountering small arms fire and homemade bombs in Husaybah. General Donald Alston said no U.S. or Iraqi forces have been killed, and said he had no information about insurgent or civilian casualties.
Coalition airstrikes hit what were described as insurgent strongpoints in the Euphrates river town on Saturday.
U.S. commanders say Husaybah is one of the first stops for foreign insurgents who enter Iraq from nearby Syria.
Some Sunni Arab politicians and tribal leaders in the area complained that the operation endangers civilians and could lead to greater instability in Sunni sections of the country.
Elsewhere, at least 11 people in the same family were killed late Saturday when gunmen ambushed a minibus northeast of Baghdad.