Three Iraqi civilians including one woman were killed in clashes with gunmen in the town of Khaldiya on Tuesday, west of Baghdad. In addition, a roadside bomb which exploded in the town killed four Iraqi soldiers and wounded five.
According to Reuters, Iraqi police also announced the release of an Interior Ministry engineer who had been kidnapped by resistance fighters and the arrest of two men believed responsible.
Earlier in the day, US military sources reported that two US F-18 jetfighters dropped bombs near the Syrian border of Iraq, destroying two bridges across the Euphrates River west of Baghdad.
The operation, according to the AP, was part of an attempt to thwart the passage of weapons and fighters into Iraq near the town of Karabila, considered a major passageway to Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi is thought to have taken over parts of the Karabila area.
An official US statement said that "The purpose of the strike was to prevent Al Qaida from using the structures." The statement added that the bombing was meant to render the bridges inoperable, not to destroy them.
Fighting continues in Tal Afar
Meanwhile, US military sources announced that 11 resistance fighters had been killed by security forces near the town of Balad in Iraq on Monday, bringing the total number of fighters killed in the Tal Afar military operation this week to at least 40.
An estimated 5,000 troops moved to Tal Afar last week in an effort to drive out resistance.
According to reports of Uruknet, medical personnel at the qada Hospital in Tel Afar claimed that one civilian and one child were also killed in US operations, while four children were seriously wounded.
They added that Tal Afar remains surrounded and under siege, thus making the removal of wounded difficult, in addition to access to information regarding the area.
