US aircraft and ground troops have launched heavy attacks on Iraqi insurgents in the city of Qaim, near the Syrian border.
A US spokesman said Operation Spear is aimed at rooting out insurgents and foreign fighters and disrupting insurgent support systems in and around Karabila.
Residents in Karabila, a suburb of Qaim, said fierce gunbattles broke out overnight and continued. US forces said air strikes killed 40 rebels near there on 11 June.
US aircraft were reported to have bombed in several places.
The leader in Qaim of the Muslim Clerics Association, Mudhafar al-Ani, called for businesses to remain closed and residents to stay in their homes after Friday prayers in protest at the US action.
The chief doctor at Qaim hospital, Hamdi al-Alusi, said six dead bodies had been brought to the morgue, including one woman.
