BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. and Iraqi forces in the western province of Anbar have seized thousands of pounds of explosives and arrested dozens of suspected insurgents in a three-day-sweep that has encountered little resistance and received cooperation from local residents, military officials said yesterday.

The thrust by about 1,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors and 100 Iraqi troops, called Operation Sword, centered on towns along the Euphrates River about 90 miles west of Baghdad.

Marine spokesmen have said the operation, like other recent sweeps farther west, is aimed at driving insurgents out of towns and disrupting their ability to move guerrillas, weapons and supplies from neighboring Syria into western Iraq and other parts of the country.

Iraqi army Capt. Hussein Abbas said about two tons of explosives had been confiscated in the city of Hit, and 45 suspects had been arrested, including foreigners from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria.