BAGHDAD, July 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Four US Marines were killed by insurgents in hostile action west of Baghdad Tuesday, a US military said in a statement on Wednesday.

   The Marines were killed while "conducting security and stability operations" in the main city of al-Anbar province, al-Ramadi, some100 km west of Baghdad, according to the statement.

   The area to the west of Baghdad along the Syrian and Jordanian borders is the bastion of insurgents who oppose the existing of multinational forces on Iraq's land.

   The statement gave no further details about the incident.

   Over 860 US servicemen have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war in march 2003.  Enditem