2nd Marine Division

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq - More than 1,000 Marines and soldiers near the Syrian border completed a weeklong offensive yesterday, ending the coalition's biggest campaign since last year's bloody Fallujah battle in terms of insurgents reportedly killed, more than 115, and troops deployed. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, a top Iraqi Foreign Ministry official was apparently assassinated in a drive-by shooting while he stood outside his home, authorities said. Police said Jassim Mohammed Ghani, the ministry's director general, was killed late last night in western Baghdad.

A 21-year-old Marine from Montgomery County has become the latest Marylander to die in the fighting in Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Cpl. Kirk J. Bosselmann of Dickerson died Saturday - one of four Marines killed by enemy action in a three-day period in Al Anbar province. All four Marines belonged to the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., the department said. Bosselmann was a graduate of Poolesville High School, according to the Rev. Merritt W. Ednie, pastor of Boyds Presbyterian Church, where the young Marine had been on a prayer list that included people serving in military and civilian roles in Iraq.

Christopher Custer, the 21-year-old Marine lance corporal who was killed in a car crash last weekend in Pennsylvania, had recently returned from Iraq, where he served as a combat engineer, according to information released yesterday by the Marine Corps. Lt. Clark Carpenter, a public information officer at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where Custer was stationed, said the Bel Air resident was on three weeks leave, which is typical for Marines returning from duty in Iraq. Carpenter said that Custer had received a half-dozen awards since joining the Marines in November 2000, including the Navy and Marine Corps achievement medal.

William T. Rand Jr., a retired state accountant who fought in some of the key Pacific battles with the Marine Corps during World War II and was wounded in combat as an Army lieutenant in the Korean War, died of congestive heart failure Thursday at Northwest Hospital Center. The Randallstown resident was 87. Mr. Rand was born and raised in Atchison, Kan., and attended Emporia State University for two years, studying music and playing saxophone and clarinet. In 1938, he enlisted as a bandsman in the Marine Corps, and a year later was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Cooksville resident Rosemary Clark will demonstrate the art of quilting with step-by-step instructions at 7 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Glenwood branch library on Route 97. Clark, who lives across the street, runs a home-based quilting business called RC Dream Quilts. She teaches in her studio and sells her quilts twice a year, in May and September, "right on the front lawn." She has made 12 Harry Potter quilts - one with a three-dimensional cloak with Harry's initials monogrammed on the lining.

George R. Montour, son of George and Evelyn Montour of here, returned from the Persian Gulf March 28.The petty officer 1st class was deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy in September.Montour lives with his wife, Susan, and their son, Christopher, near the Patuxent Naval Base in St. Mary's County.He is stationed at the Norfolk Naval Base in Norfolk, Va.MARINES COME HOMEFive county Marine reservists were greeted with sunshine and warm hugs as they returned from the Persian Gulf to their Baltimore headquarters Tuesday afternoon.

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia -- The thunderous sound of bombs exploding in the distance gave Marine Gunnery Sgt. Albert Tasker some reason to doubt that the war and the carnage would be ending soon.The 35-year-old Glen Burnie man had literally jumped for joy when he first heard reports of an Iraqi offer to withdraw from Kuwait. "The best news I've had since I've been here," he exclaimed.But as the day wore on, the news got worse, allied bombs kept falling and so did the hopes of hundreds of thousands of GIs who have been girding for a ferocious ground war that could start at a moment's notice.