http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050226/ts_nm/iraq_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480Troops in tanks and armored cars stormed Haditha in the middle of the night, blowing up a weapons cache and exchanging small arms fire with guerrillas. But if militants were holed up there they appeared to have fled and resistance was light.
In Ramadi, witnesses reported fierce gun battles between U.S. troops and insurgents. One said a U.S. armored Humvee was destroyed, although this could not be confirmed. A hospital official said at least one person was killed and 15 injured.
Anbar, which accounts for nearly a third of Iraq's area and stretches from Baghdad to the western borders with Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, has long been a thorn in the side of troops trying to stamp out the insurgency.
Militants have effective control of some towns and villages, and the U.S. military acknowledged this week the security situation in the province had deteriorated too far.
The Marines are trying to stabilize the Euphrates corridor, which runs up to the Syrian border, but have sometimes found that when they arrive in a town, the insurgents they are looking for are nowhere to be seen.