 By mid-November at least 75 American soldiers and Marines were killed along with an unknown number of Iraqi soldiers and police.The U.S. commander, Col. MacFarland said 750 insurgents had been killed in fighting in Ramadi and that his forces had secured 70% of the city.The intense battles of October and November 2006 largely eliminated al-Qaeda from the city, the surviving militants fled, with teams of them turning up in Baghdad and elsewhere, whilst others melted into the population.