US forces say they have killed three suspected members of a group linked to al-Qaeda in a gunbattle in Iraq.
US military officers said that during a US raid on a house in the northern city of Mosul last night, "suspected members of the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group" attacked soldiers with gunfire and grenades, wounding two.
US troops fired back, killing three attackers, and the house caught fire. Six Iraqis were detained during the raid, including three children, and handed over to police.
Ansar al-Islam, a group which Washington says has links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, ran a base in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule.
The base was destroyed by US missiles at the start of the war to topple Saddam, but officials say the organisation has regrouped and is suspected of suicide bomb attacks on occupying troops and international organisations.
