US-Iraqi forces forge ahead with crackdown

And on the second day of a surprise visit, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw countered widespread scepticism that the war-torn country's tough-talking prime minister Iyad Allawi could stabilise Iraq in time for elections set for January.

The US military announced in a statement overnight that it had launched its largest operation to date in the Babil province south of Baghdad, in a bid to dismantle insurgent cells there and cut off the western rebel enclave from some of its rear bases.

"While rounding up 30 suspects during the initial sweep, the Iraqis and their American allies seized a suspected insurgent training camp and took control of the Jurf Kas Sukr bridge," it said.

"The bridge, spanning the Euphrates southwest of Baghdad, is believed to be a favoured corridor for insurgents moving into and out of key cities, including the capital hub and the current (rebel) sanctuary of Fallujah," the military added.

In an almost daily occurrence, US warplanes also pounded Fallujah directly overnight, hitting what it described as a meeting of ring leaders loyal to Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq.

There was no immediate report of any casualties after the raid.

Meanwhile one civilian was killed Wednesday by the explosion of a homemade bomb in the southern Iraqi city of Basra which also left 10 wounded, six of them civilians and four policemen, police said.

"A civilian was killed and 10 wounded, including four policemen, by the explosion of a bomb which had been planted on the Qaddisiyah bridge at the northern entrance to the city," police Lieutenant Colonel Karim al-Zaidi said.