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U.S.-Iraqi offensive leaves dozens of insurgents dead

Marine: 'It's been shooting or getting shot at all day'

Officials: Iraqi police killed in checkpoint battle

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HUSAYBA, Iraq (CNN) -- Dozens of insurgents were killed Saturday on the first day of Operation Steel Curtain, a U.S.-Iraqi military offensive near the Syrian border, military officials said.

Marine company commander Capt. Conlon Carabine described the day as one long firefight full of sniper and machine gun fire.

"With the exception of 30 minutes, it's been shooting or getting shot at all day," Carabine said.

At least three Marines received minor wounds in the fighting, said U.S. military officials in Husayba, where much of the operation is centered.

The offensive "marks the first large-scale employment of multiple battalion-sized units of Iraqi Army forces in combined operations with coalition forces" in Anbar province during the past year, the military said in a news release.

The operation comes in the largely Sunni Muslim region in advance of Iraq's parliamentary election, set for December 15.

Sunni tribal leader Sheik Osama Jadaan denounced the offensive, The Associated Press reported.

"We call all humanitarians and those who carry peace to the world to intervene to stop the repeated bloodshed in the western parts of Iraq," Jadaan told AP. "And we say to the American occupiers to get out and leave Iraq to the Iraqis."

Many insurgents are thought to be Sunni Arabs -- Iraqis that U.S. and Iraqi officials hope will lay down their arms and join the nation's emerging political process.

Once a thriving trade city of some 30,000 people, Husayba has been largely deserted. A crossing into Syria there has been closed for more than a year, and Husayba's population now numbers just a few thousand.

Marine Lt. Col. Dale Alford of the 3rd Battalion said the operation was launched "to liberate the town."

"We'll continue to push and liberate this city," he said.

The military believes Husayba has been taken over by insurgents and foreign fighters and used as a command center for operations, as well as the smuggling of weapons and foreign fighters into Iraq's population centers.

Alford said "we are steadily cleaning the city out" and have faced "pockets of resistance throughout the day."

Street-by-street combat

In the first hours of the operation, firefights broke out, and the engagements intensified as troops worked their way into the city.

A 20-minute firefight occurred in the city center, where insurgents were firing at U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces from a mosque.

The fiercest firefight of the day broke out in the southwestern part of the city. Machine gun fire, tank rounds and AK-47 bullets reverberated during tough, street-by-street combat

Weather conditions presented challenges as the day progressed. Wind and haze decreased visibility for troops as they worked their way into Husayba, checking for explosives.

The Iraqi army received reports of civilians leaving their homes carrying white flags. The families were being moved to a secure location.

Forces proceeding into the southwestern part of the Anbar province town have found at least 30 bombs rigged to the houses and roads. Two suicide car bombs have been found.

In one case, a house was rigged so thoroughly with homemade bombs that the Marines decided to detonate it with a laser-guided missile.

Military officials said civilians have been evacuated to a secure sector of the city and have been provided food, blankets and heaters.

Alford said U.S. and Iraqi forces face an enemy that includes foreign fighters and "a few that are supporting the foreign fighters."

Before this operation, forces have been moving through nearby villages.

"For the most part, once we move through these towns that we've done over the last month, people seem to be happy that we're here," Alford said.

He said the "people were telling us who the bad guys are and we have forces all around the city over the last month gathering intelligence also."

Operation Steel Curtain includes 3,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors and 550 Iraqi soldiers. It's the latest in a series of operations this year in Anbar province and follows others such as operations Fist and River Gate.

The U.S. military, in its news release, said "elements of the 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, and specially trained scout platoons recruited from the Al Qaim region" will help fight these adversaries.

There has been no U.S. presence in the center of Husayba for a year and a half, only minor operations on the city's outskirts.

Other developments:

An independent Iraqi lawyer died Saturday in Baghdad when unknown gunmen sprayed his car with bullets, according to Baghdad emergency police. Nayif Tami Hameed was on his way from the northern Baghdad outskirts of Taji to Shu'la neighborhood in Baghdad when the shooting occurred. The gunmen then fled. The lawyer was shot many times and died immediately, police said.

A U.S. service member died on Saturday in a "non-combat related vehicle accident" near Tallil, Iraq, the U.S. military said. Three other service members were injured and were taken to a Combat Support Hospital at Tallil Air Base.

CNN's Arwa Damon contributed to this report.

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