US backed Iraqi forces kill 80 insurgents west of Tikrit

Iraqi security forces backed by US troops Tuesday attacked an apparent training camp near Lake of Tharthar, west of Tikrit, killing some 80 insurgents, local police said on Wednesday.

A police commando battalion discovered and attacked a suspected training facility in al-Hulwa area near Lake of Tharthar, some 60 km west of Tikrit, where a fierce battle took place, the joint center for the Iraqi police and the US army said in a statement.

US aircraft and land troops provided supporting fire for the Iraqi security forces which lost seven members, including two officers, and additional six wounded, the statement said.

Some of the 80 killed insurgents were believed foreign fighters, said the statement, adding the Iraqi forces confiscated large amount of different weapons.

Medical sources in the nearby Tikrit Hospital told Xinhua that they did not receive any killed or wounded people until Wednesday morning.

The area near Tharthar Lake, located on the border with Iraq's western Anbar province, where the US troops launched military offensives on the cities lying along Euphrates.

Source: Xinhua