US and Iraqi troops continued Saturday fierce battles in Qaim town in the frontier area near the Syrian border, killing 50 insurgents since the start of the Operation Spear, the US military said.

"Approximately 50 insurgents have been killed since the operation began yesterday morning," a US military statement said.

Earlier on Friday, US aircraft carried out airstrikes as hundreds of US Marines backed by tanks and Iraqi soldiers carried out a major offensive, codenamed Operation Spear aimed at eradicating insurgency from the Karabilah vellage near the Iraqi town of Qaim.

The US military has no reports about civilian casualties as a result of the operation, the statement said.

However, medical sources in Qaim Hospital said, "We have received 12 bodies till Friday night and 15 wounded from Karabilah only."

Some of the victims were children, women and elderly residents, the medics told Xinhua, adding that five of the 12 bodies were members of one family.

The US troops carried out two major offensives in the area last month, killing 125 insurgents in the first offensive, named Operation Matador, and killed 14 in the second offensive, named Operation New Market.

Some 11 US Marines were killed in the two operations which aimed at rooting out insurgents and foreign fighter.

Source: Xinhua