US jets have attacked two bridges across the Euphrates River near the Syrian border to prevent foreign fighters from using them to get to Baghdad and other major cities, the US command says.
A US Marine Corps statement said US and Iraqi forces also destroyed a "foreign fighter safe house", killed two foreigners and arrested three others during a raid on Tuesday near the bridges.
A marine statement said F/A-18 jets dropped bombs shortly after midnight on two light bridges near Karabilah, about 300km west of Baghdad.
Karabilah is one of a cluster of towns near the Syrian border, a major infiltration route for foreign fighters heading for Baghdad and other major cities, Iraqi officials say.
Also on Tuesday, US troops handed over military control of Najaf to Iraqi forces, marking a significant transfer of security responsibilities in Iraq.
By giving Iraqi forces control of a strategic military base on the outskirts of the southern city, US forces were officially relinquishing security command of a major urban centre in Iraq, US commanders said.
The city and its province is largely populated by Shia, and most members of government forces stationed in the region are also Shia.
Multiple attacks
On Monday, US marines said al-Qaida in Iraq launched multiple attacks the day before against US and Iraqi targets in Hit, 135km west of Baghdad.
Twelve people - including 11 civilians, an Iraqi soldier and three bombers - died in the Hit attacks.
Separately, Aljazeera learned from medical sources at Tal Afar hospital on Tuesday that the bodies of seven Iraqis together with 13 injured people had been brought to the facility during the past 72 hours.
US forces set Tuesday afternoon as a deadline for citizens of al-Sarai and Hasan Koi areas to leave their houses, as they plan to launch a vast military operation there, the sources added.
Elsewhere on Monday, armed men seized one of the sons of the governor of troubled al-Anbar province, Mamoun Sami Rashid al-Alwani, officials said on condition of anonymity for fear of fighters' reprisals.
The abduction occurred in the provincial capital of Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
PHOTO CAPTION
British troops examine the scene of a roadside bomb which killed two British soldiers near the southern Iraq city of Basra September 5, 2005. (Reuters)