US warplanes waged an air strike at an insurgent hideout and weapons caches in a northern Iraqi town near the Syrian border, killing nine "suspected terrorists", the US military said on Friday.

Two AV8-B Harrier jets shelled an abandoned school in Karabilah Thursday night. The target was being used by al-Qaida militants as a launch pad to carry out attacks against "local civilians and coalition forces," the military said in a statement.

The jetfighters used precision-guided 225-kg bombs on the town, located some 320 km west of Baghdad, the statement said.

"Nine terrorists were confirmed killed and one vehicle destroyed," the statement said, adding that several explosions were heard after the attack.

The US troops have launched several offensives against insurgents in Karabilah and several other small towns on the Syrian border, known by the US military as a smuggling route for foreign fighters.

US marine killed in explosion in western Iraq

A US marine was killed in an explosion in Iraq's western province of Anbar, the US military said on Friday.

The marine was killed on Thursday in an "indirect fire explosion" in Forward Operation Base Camp Ramadi, the military said in a statement.

The name of the killed soldier was being withheld pending notification of next of kin, the statement added without elaboration.

About 1,900 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003, according to media tally.

Source: Xinhua