Seven Kurdish border guards killed - Iraqi police

BAGHDAD, July 15 (Reuters) Seven border guards in Iraq's normally calm northern region of Kurdistan were killed today in an ambush police and a local official said, blaming militants linked to al Qaeda for the attack.

Gunmen ambushed the patrol in a mountainous region near the border with Iran and fighting lasted for more than an hour, said Ghareb Ali, the mayor of Panjwin, a nearby town.

"It was the most violent attack since 2003," said Ali, who said an al Qaeda linked group called the Kurdistan Brigade was suspected of having carried out the ambush.

The semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan has been largely spared the sectarian bloodshed in large parts of the rest of Iraq. But Kurdish authorities say militant groups with links to Islamist al Qaeda remain a threat.

Police said Kurdish Peshmerga security forces had closed off the area to search for the attackers.

REUTERS SM HT1902