RAMADI, Iraq (AFP) - At least six Iraqis were killed and more than a dozen people wounded, including a US soldier, in attacks on central and northern Iraq.
The killings came after US and Iraqi forces seized strategic positions on the western edge of Fallujah and appeared ready to launch a major assault.
In the restive Sunni Muslim city of Ramadi, at least four Iraqis were killed and one wounded in a car bomb attack as a US convoy was passing through, police said Monday.
The main hospital in Ramadi, which lies west of the rebel bastion of Fallujah, said it had received four dead and one wounded from the attack.
There was no immediate confirmation from the US military or whether there were any US casualties.
In Mosul, another majority Sunni city in northern Iraq, a car bomb hit a US convoy travelling in a central neighbourhood, wounding one soldier, said a US military spokesman.
City hospitals said they received 12 wounded civilians.
An AFP correspondent at the scene saw a big hole in the street and shattered glass from nearby buildings from the impact of the blast. At least three vehicles were also destroyed.
Near the city of Samarra north of Baghdad, two Iraqi contractors working with the Americans were killed and two others were wounded when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle, a police spokesman said.
US and Iraqi forces, meanwhile, searched for suspects for a second day in the restive city amid reports of intermittent clashes there.
Police said Iraqi national guardsmen and US troops conducted sweeps in some parts of Samarra, two days after car bombs and attacks on police stations in the city left 36 dead and scores wounded.
A midnight to 8:00 am curfew imposed after the attacks was still in place according to an AFP correspondent in the predominantly Sunni city. No cars were allowed in the centre and schools were closed.
A police officer said clashes took place in parts of the city overnight and that the western sector, suspected of being a shelter for rebels and their sympathisers, was cordoned off.
But a spokeswoman for the US military command based in the nearby city of Tikrit was unable to confirm the clashes or provide any details.
Iraqi and US forces launched a massive operation in Samarra in early October in which they regained control of the city from rebels.
But US military commanders admitted after the end of the brief assault that many of the insurgent leaders went to ground.
Elsewhere, two vehicles were destroyed in an explosion on the main road to the international airport in the third blast in as many days near the entrance to the sprawling transport hub.
One of the vehicles was engulfed in flames while US troops rushed to close off the road, an AFP reporter at the scene said. It was not known if the vehicles were civilian or military or if there were any casualties.
US officials had no information on the explosion.
The airport road is a favorite target of insurgents, who struck two US military convoys there at the weekend, killing one Iraqi and wounding three US soldiers.
strs-sdm-sd/loc/txw
howdy tex.. you are going to provide us with much good news I know.. NOW if you can get info the "other way" make sure you let the troops there know that FR said there are no "holy places" in this engagement.
Refugees in Baghdad have confirmed the rumours that the 'Mujahideen' are forcing men from 15-50 years old to stay and that they were threatened with execution if they refuse to carry arms in defense of the town.
I bet some of these guys turn their guns on their oppressors when the good guys get close.
I haven't looked it up, but I guess "restive" must mean "fixing to be blown to sh*t"
What does "went to ground" mean?