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U.S., Iraqi troops begin another Anbar offensiveOperation Dagger under way; U.S. military battles fighters near Syria
 A medical helicopter lands in northwestern Iraq near Karabila, five miles from the Syrian border. RELATEDSPECIAL REPORT
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YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- U.S. and Iraqi troops launched the second major offensive in 24 hours in Iraq's Anbar province Saturday, as forces in the first mission battled insurgents holed up near the Syrian border. Operation Dagger began Saturday morning about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said, with the mission of finding weapons caches and insurgent hideouts in an area west of Lake Thar-Thar. To the west, Operation Spear continued in Karabila, five miles from the Syrian border in a lawless, rough-and-tumble region of the province. The U.S. military said about 50 suspected enemy fighters had been killed since the offensive's launch early Friday. An intense firefight on Saturday concentrated on a bunker complex, which the U.S. military said was used to make bombs. Each operation comprises about 1,000 U.S. Marines, sailors and Iraqi troops. U.S. Marines in Karabila freed four men -- a border police officer and three other Iraqis -- who were chained to a wall in the center of the city and had apparently been taken captive and tortured, according to a CNN correspondent embedded with U.S. troops. The U.S. military suspects there are about 100 foreign fighters in Karabila, Col. Stephen Davis, commander of Regimental Combat Team-2, 2nd Marine Division, said Friday. Many residents have fled the city, including women and children who were seen crossing the Euphrates River early Friday, he said. U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched several weeklong offensives in Anbar province in recent months aimed at stopping the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq and searching for Jordanian-born terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his followers. Two U.S. soldiers killedFour people, including two U.S. soldiers, were killed late Friday during a firefight with insurgents about 30 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. A civilian and a detainee were killed in the fight near the town of Buhritz in Diyala province, the military said. Five Iraqi police officers and a U.S. soldier were wounded. Iraqi Army soldiers detained two suspected insurgents after the skirmish, the military said. The number of U.S. military deaths in the war stands at 1,718; 52 of them died in June. 
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