American military operations in Iraq

The American army said on Sunday that its forces killed some 20 gunmen in violent fighting in al-Huseibah town near the Iraqi- Syrian borders.

The US warplanes took part in the attack by bombarding houses suspected to be used by gunmen as shelters. A statement by the US army indicated that one gunmen was killed and large amounts of weapons and bombs were found.

The fighting came while the number of the American soldiers killed in Iraq since the invasion reached 1996. A statement by the army announced the killing of four American contractors with the army on September 20 in an attack targeting a convoy guarded by the American forces after it took a wrong road at al-Dalou'eya town near Balad north of Baghdad.

In the same context, a secret opinion poll held at the request of the British defense forces said that 65% of the Iraqis consider that the attacks against the American and British forces have their own justification.

On the other hand, less than one percent said that the presence of the foreign forces in their country will lead to improving the security conditions. Worthy mentioning that this poll was carried out by a research team in one of the Iraqi universities in August.