US troops launched an offensive in Iraq's most rebellious province, killing 75 insurgents, following a spate of ferocious bombings designed to undermine the new Iraqi government, the military said today.
News of the offensive came after a weekend of heavy losses for the US military and with the Iraqi cabinet still incomplete three months after elections.
US Marines, soldiers and sailors backed by aircraft launched the operation in a desert area of western Anbar province, a US military statement said.
It did not say when the operation started, but said 75 insurgents were killed in the first 24 hours.
Yesterday, three soldiers were killed in two separate roadside bomb attacks and one was killed by small arms fire. Three Marines were killed by a suicide car bomb and a sailor died in small arms fire after insurgents attacked from a hospital, the military said.
Guerrillas have stepped up violence since an April 28 announcement of a number of government posts, with at least 300 people killed in suicide attacks and bombings.
Iraqis thought a three-month impasse over naming a full government had ended yesterday when parliament approved six new ministers, but one minister turned down the job, leaving the cabinet still incomplete.
Proposed human rights minister Hisham al-Shibli said he had been picked purely to placate Iraq's restive Sunni Arab minority and said he was rejecting the post.
Iraqi officials say insurgents regrouped while politicians spent three months bickering after January 30 elections. The ferocity of sustained attacks over the last two weeks has fuelled frustrations with politicians who promised stability.