US soldiers killed at least 29 guerrillas in western Iraq, the military said today, after US President George W Bush vowed not to waver in his campaign against global Islamic extremism.
Military officials also said six more Marines had died in roadside bomb attacks -- raising the US death toll since the 2003 invasion of Iraq to at least 1,948.
Iraq is struggling through a stepped-up campaign of insurgent bombings, suicide attacks and kidnappings before a vote on a new constitution in a week's time.
The October 15 constitutional referendum and an election for a new parliament in December have fired tensions between the Shi'ite majority and the Sunni Arab minority which dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein but now fears political eclipse.
Many Sunni leaders share the goals of some insurgents -- ending US occupation and curbing the power of Shi'ite majority rule -- one prominent Sunni today said US forces and the militants should agree a ceasefire during Ramadan, which started this week, as a prelude to direct talks.
"The fighting should stop," Saleh al-Mutlak, who represents the National Dialogue movement, said.
"We have fought for two-and-a-half years and the problem is it doesn't work," he said in an interview. Mutlak's comments came as US officials said the campaign near the Syrian border in western Iraq was scoring successes with about 1,000 troops fighting to shut what they say is a key route for arms and foreign extremist fighters into the country.
At least 20 militants were killed on Wednesday when US aircraft bombed a hotel that militants had commandeered in the town of Qusayba, while nine other fighters died in other exchanges with US forces, the military said.
Major General Stephen Johnson said that in the week-long operation, dubbed "Iron Fist", the militants his forces faced were mostly local people, not foreign Islamists.
"They are generally young people, 20 to 30 years old. They are day labourers, agricultural workers and there are a lot of unemployed," Johnson said, calling the Iraqi fighters "foot soldiers for extremists".