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CNN.com - Marines: 13 detained in Operation Sword

Sebastian Wright |
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. and Iraqi forces conducting a military offensive in western Iraq have detained 13 people and killed an insurgent amid light resistance, the Marines said Wednesday.

Operation Sword is the latest in a series of operations designed to confront foreign and Iraqi insurgents in the west, where people are said to be crossing from Syria into Iraq to launch attacks against military and civilian targets.

The operation, which began Tuesday, involves about 1,000 Marines, soldiers and sailors along the Euphrates River between Haditha and Hit, according to the Marines.

The effort "is currently focusing on clearing insurgents and foreign fighters from the city of Hit" and has been carrying out "cordon and knock operations in and around Hit," the Marines said in a written statement.

"Thirteen men suspected of having insurgent ties have been detained. One insurgent was killed yesterday by Marines after detonating a roadside bomb against a Marine tank.

"There have been no reported casualties among Iraqi or American forces. Resistance is being reported by commanders in the city as 'light.' No foreign fighter presence has been detected within the city," the statement said.

Munitions have been found, the statement said. They include hundreds of mortar and artillery rounds and "explosives, small-arms rifles, a machine gun and various bomb-making materials."

"Two hidden and operable roadside bombs were also discovered in Hit," the statement said.

There have been "no major battles or air strikes" and utility and medical services in Hit have not been disrupted, the Marines said.

Other developments

  • A suicide car bomb exploded Wednesday at Babylon Hotel in the Jadrya neighborhood in south-central Baghdad, a police source in the capital said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
  • A TV news director in Iraq was killed by U.S. troop fire Tuesday night, a Baghdad emergency police official said, and American authorities are investigating. The victim has been identified as Wael Ahmed al-Bakri, an Iraqi citizen who worked for Al-Sharqiya, a satellite Iraqi TV station based in Abu Dhabi.
  • A child and three other civilians died and 21 others were wounded Tuesday night in a mortar attack on a neighborhood in Tal Afar, the U.S. military in Mosul said Wednesday.
  • Task Force Liberty soldiers, who are stationed in north-central Iraq, found weapons caches during operations Wednesday in the two restive regions of Samarra and Baquba, the U.S. military said.
  • Insurgents Wednesday ambushed a joint Polish-Iraqi military patrol in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniya, wounding two Polish soldiers and causing casualties among the attackers, the Polish-led military command said.
  • The Iraqi Special Tribunal, investigating war crimes, announced that it questioned several more people over the weekend associated with the Saddam Hussein regime about alleged crimes during his rule.

    • CNN's Kevin Flower and Enes Dulami contributed to this report.

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