Attacks go on as US bombs Iraq's Syrian border

A SUICIDE car bomber blew up his vehicle as an Iraqi army patrol was passing in front of a Shiite mosque in Baghdad yesterday, destroying vehicles but causing few casualties, police said.

The attack occurred near a mosque in the Kamalya district in the east of the city as Friday prayers were ending. An Iraqi army patrol was passing the mosque at the time and may have been the target, police said.

Meanwhile, in western Iraq, the United States launched an offensive aimed at hunting down foreign fighters on the Syrian border.

Operation Spear started in the pre-dawn hours in Anbar province when US F-16 fighter planes dropped nine 500lb bombs on targets in the area. The air raid was followed by a land force of 1,000 US marines and Iraqi troops launching the hunt for insurgents and foreign fighters.

The operation came one day after Air Force Brigadier-General Don Alston called the Syrian border the "worst problem" in terms of stemming the influx of foreign fighters to Iraq.