About 3,500 US and Iraqi soldiers continued Sunday their Operation Steel Curtain offensive aimed at restoration of security and eradication of al-Qaida fighters in Husaybah near the Syrian border in western Iraq, the US military said.

US and Iraqi troops encountered sporadic resistance by small arms fire and improvised explosive devices IEDs as they penetrated the insurgent stronghold town, some 320 northwest of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

Al-Qaida network has used the region's long borders with Syria to smuggle foreign fighters, money and equipment into the country to be used in their ongoing insurgency, it said.

US aircraft has launched nine airstrikes on the town, in which several buildings, used by insurgent snipers, have been destroyed, in addition to the destruction of a suspected booby-trapped car in an early morning airstrike, the statement said.

Moreover, six bombs and landmines were discovered by US and Iraqi ground forces, it added.

The offensive is part of Operation Sayaid (Hunter) designed to deny al-Qaida in Iraq the ability to operate in the Euphrates River Valley and to establish a joint permanent security presence along the Syrian border, the military said.

The offensive followed several operations launched by US and Iraqi forces in the restive western Sunni province of Al-Anbar in the past few months in an attempt to curb violence.

The vast desert area, west of Baghdad, has been a bastion of insurgency against US and Iraqi forces.

Source: Xinhua