US says 38 insurgents killed in Baghdad fighting

BAGHDAD, Nov 9 (Reuters) US forces killed 38 suspected insurgents and wounded nine in a firefight in northern Baghdad that lasted nearly an hour-and-a-half on Sunday, the US military said.

In a statement late yesterday describing the fighting, which occurred on the same day Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death, it said US forces were attacked with rifles and rocket -propelled grenades (RPGs) from both north and south of a US base.

The US statement said after the firefight, US forces discovered one AK-47 assault rifle and three hand grenades.

''The terrorist casualties were all witnessed by MND-B (Multinational Division Baghdad) soldiers, but many of the bodies and weapons were removed from the scene,'' it said.

The military said there were no US casualties but one Humvee vehicle was damaged.

Baghdad was under a tight curfew on Sunday to avoid a violent backlash after a court issued the verdict against Saddam on charges of crimes against humanity.

The US military today reported another gunbattle in northern Iraq on Tuesday, around 45 km south of Kirkuk, when an estimated 25 to 30 gunmen armed with machine guns and RPGs ambushed a joint US and Iraqi patrol.

US forces backed by helicopters killed eight gunmen and captured 14. ''Coalition forces sustained one member killed and three others wounded in action,'' a U.S. statement said, giving no further details of the fatality.

REUTERS PDM HS1321