10 Marines Killed In Iraq, 11 Wounded in roadside blast

TEN US marines were killed overnight when a roadside bomb exploded near the city of Fallujah in one of the deadliest attacks on US troops in recent months.

The marines were on a foot patrol outside of Fallujah, just west of Baghdad, when they were attacked on Thursday.
"The patrol was attacked with an IED (improvised explosive device) fashioned from several large artillery shells," said the statement.

It said seven of those injured by the bomb had returned to duty.

The dead were from the 2nd Marine Division's Regimental Combat Team 8, the military has withheld soldier's names pending notification of next of kin.

Another US marine was killed in Fallujah on Wednesday.

The attack was the deadliest on US forces in Iraq since an August 3 blast killed 14 marines during combat operations near Haditha, 260 kilometres northwest of Baghdad.
More than 2,110 US service personnel have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.

The latest attack was announced as about 500 US and Iraqi troops launched a new offensive against insurgents in Ramadi, also west of Baghdad.

The offensive came a day after residents of Ramadi, capital of Al-Anbar province, reported a sudden insurgent presence on the streets, with dozens of fighters roaming unchecked and putting up Al-Qaeda posters.

Fallujah was known as an Al-Qaeda stronghold when in November 2004, it was stormed by thousands of US and Iraqi soldiers and pounded by US artillery, planes and tanks

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