Clash at Iraq checkpoint kills 15

A civilian injured in the Ramadi clash is rushed to hospital

Clashes in the Iraqi city of Ramadi have left 12 insurgents, two Iraqi civilians and one Iraqi soldier dead, the US military says.

The fighting between US and Iraqi forces and insurgents started when a checkpoint manned by US marines came under attack.

Ramadi, to the west of Baghdad, has been a centre of insurgent violence.

Earlier, the US military reported that its forces killed 12 insurgents in a clash on Monday near the Syrian border.

It says nine were killed when US forces stopped a suspect truck. Three more died in a subsequent air strike.

A number of people were reported to have been wounded in the operation, including a six-year-old girl and six coalition soldiers.

The US statement on the clashes at Qaim came after another day of violence on Monday. At least 12 people were killed in car bombings in Baghdad and Mosul.

'Links to Zarqawi'

The US military said the 12 men killed near the Syrian border were suspected members of al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The incident, the US military said, occurred after coalition forces tracked and confronted a small group of suspected insurgents in a truck that had driven to an isolated tent and shed east of Qaim.

The suspected insurgents loaded unknown materials onto the truck. When it drove off, the coalition forces attempted to stop the truck and a gun battle ensued.

Coalition forces later found false identity cards, foreign currency and other evidence linking the men to Zarqawi's group and other insurgent groups based outside Iraq, the US military statement said.