BAGHDAD, Aug. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Seven US marines were killed in two separate attacks in western Iraq on Monday, the US military said on Tuesday.

    Six marines, assigned to Regimental Combat Team-2 of the 2nd Marine Division, were killed on Monday in the town of Haditha, some 220 km northwest of Baghdad, said the military.

    A statement distributed by insurgents in Haditha said  militants took captive of 10 US soldiers before Monday noon near Barwana village, close to Haditha.

    US troops sent several military boats on the Euphrates River to try to rescue the soldiers, but the militants ambushed them causing heavy casualties among US troops, said the statement, whose authenticity could not be verified.

    The bodies of the 10 soldiers were found on a road in the area, the statement added.

    Another marine, assigned to Regimental Combat Team-2 of the 2nd Marine Division, was killed on Monday when he was hit by a suicide car bomber near the town of Hit, 170 km west of Baghdad, the military added.

    Haditha, together with Fallujah and Ramadi, belongs to the restive Anbar province which has been a stronghold of insurgency in the past two years.

    More than 1,780 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the US-led war on the oil-rich country began in March 2003.Enditem