The US military says its soldiers have embarked on a major assault on Al-Qaeda-linked militants in western Iraq.
Some 1,000 ground troops rolled into Sadah, a town near the Syrian border, following earlier helicopter strikes.
Army officials say the move, dubbed Operation Iron Fist, will tackle infiltration and destroy the insurgents' haven.
Local doctors say at least 10 civilians have died in the operation.
Two US soldiers have been killed in two separate bomb explosions in central Baghdad and Baiji, some 200km north of the capital.
The deaths bring to 1,921 the number of US military personnel killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion of March 2003.
And it has been reported that one Danish soldier has been killed and two others have been wounded in southern Iraq.
Iraqi police say a roadside bomb blew up alongside a Danish military vehicle outside the city of Basra.
Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has said that the US must not abandon its mission in Iraq.
In a speech which is being seen as an attempt to boost flagging support in the US for the country's involvement in Iraq, Ms Rice acknowledged the sacrifice being made by US forces.
However, she warned that pulling troops out of Iraq would only help insurgents, saying that if the US abandoned its mission in Iraq it would 'embolden every enemy of liberty'.
