RAMADI, Iraq, July 21 (AFP) - At least four people were killed and 14 wounded in clashes and a suspected car bomb blast in the centre of the rebel Iraqi city of Ramadi on Wednesday, police and hospital officials said.
A US military spokesman confirmed that American soldiers were battling insurgents in the rebel Sunni bastion, 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Baghdad, but denied there had been a car bombing.
"Three brothers, Sattar, Mustapha and Yussef Khalil were killed in a car bomb explosion," said Doctor Assad Aliwi from the general hospital in Ramadi, capital of the restive al-Anar province.
A second doctor, Luay Assad Kubaissi, said a fourth corpse had been brought to the hospital along with 14 other injured people amid the chaos.
Lieutenent Atallah Khalaf, a police officer in charge of protecting the hospital, said this death and the injuries were the result of clashes between US soldiers and rebel forces.
He said the car bomb exploded in the path of the three brothers walking along a main road lined with several public buildings including the Ramadi courthouse, and appeared to have been remotely detonated.
The only thing remaining of the vehicle was its engine, while pieces of twisted metal were scattered around the site, an AFP correspondent reported.
Asked if US troops were involved in any clashes in the city, a US spokesman, contacted by email, said: "There's one going on right now."