Car bombs and clashes killed 12 Iraqis today and three Australian troops were wounded in the first attack on their contingent since the end of the Iraq war.
The Australians were hurt when a car bomb blew up near the Australian embassy in central Baghdad. The US military said the blast killed three Iraqis and wounded at least six.
"This is the first time that Australian vehicles have been attacked by a direct enemy action," Australian Defence Force spokesman Brigadier Mike Hannan said in Canberra.
Television footage showed three corpses covered in blankets and an Australian armoured vehicle knocked off the road at the scene of the morning blast in Hurriya Square.
Australian troops in Baghdad are engaged in diplomatic protection, not security operations. Brig Hannan said there were no diplomats travelling with the convoy when the bomb went off.
Australia was one of the first nations to join the US-led war on Iraq, sending about 2,000 troops, but it has since scaled down its force to about 920 in and around Iraq.
Five civilians were killed during fighting between US forces and insurgents in the rebellious western city of Ramadi, local hospital director Abdul Moneim Aftan said.
He blamed the deaths in eastern Ramadi on US snipers, saying three of the dead had been in a minibus, one in a truck and one in a car. It was not clear how he knew these details.
There was no immediate word from the US military on the clashes, which erupted yesterday. Witnesses said the fighting began when US forces pushed into the eastern part of town.