IRAQ - US Offensives On Terrorists.

About 2,500 US and 1,000 Iraqi troops backed by tanks and air strikes last week fought insurgents in the streets of the western border town of Husayba. US and Iraqi troops moved through the town on foot for a fifth day on Nov. 11, having battled insurgents hiding inside mosques and schools.

The US military said Iraqi soldiers killed insurgents dressed as women near the entrance of a building. Those disguised as women were foreign fighters trying to hide among women and children. It was not the first time insurgents had dressed as women. In Buhriz, north of Baghdad, insurgents dressed as women recently killed six police officers at a checkpoint.

In western Iraq near the Syrian border, Operation Steel Curtain entered its sixth day on Nov. 11 with Marines and Iraqi troops pushing through Husayba in search of al-Qaeda insurgents. Operation Steel Curtain is the latest in a series of offensives aimed at securing western Iraq against Sunni Arab insurgents and Neo-Salafi foreign fighters before the Dec. 15 election. Sectarian tensions are dominating campaigning for the poll.

US commanders say the sweeps in the past six months have put the insurgents on the defensive, but success has been spotty. US troops staged an offensive in the area along the Euphrates River Valley in early October, but far fewer Iraqi soldiers fought then, making this the first serious test of new Iraqi Army troops in Anbar province. The offensive has provoked the anger of al-Qaeda, which in a posting on the Internet signed by a spokesman, Abu Maisra al-Iraqi, set a 24-hour deadline for US and Iraqi troops to stop the operation, or "they will face everything bad from us, and the Mesopotamia ground will shake under their legs". But the deadline was ignored.

Steel Curtain, the biggest offensive in Anbar in a year, met sporadic resistance, as US and Iraqi troops kicked down the doors of empty houses in search for foreign terrorists. Brig. Gen. Donald Alston said the forces had been met with mainly rifle fire and IEDs.

Al-Qaeda accused a visiting Arab League delegation of not speaking out against the US-led assault. Its spokesman al-Iraqi said: "At this very moment the Arab League delegation arrives not to defend the honour of Muslims, save Iraqi children, women and the elderly from the bombs of the Crusader planes or even condemn these acts". His statement was entitled "Between Steel Curtain Operation and the Visit of the Rascals' Delegation", was signed by al-Iraqi.