FALLUJAH, Iraq, July 30 (AFP) - At least 13 Iraqis were killed and a dozen wounded in overnight clashes between US troops and insurgents in the flashpoint of Fallujah, west of the capital, hospital sources and police said on Friday.
"We have 13 killed and 13 wounded," said doctor Bilal Jassem at Fallujah's main hospital without indicating if the casualties were civilians or fighters.
The same toll was given by Lieutenant Walid Mohammed of the Iraqi police.
The US military said earlier that it targeted insurgents in Fallujah on Thursday night with artillery and air fire after they attacked a marine position in the city with mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.
Marines first responded with tanks and artillery fire, it said, adding that there were no marine casualties and "no information about any insurgent losses."
Residents said they heard loud explosions that appeared to come from the Shuhada neighbourhood in the south of the city, targeted by previous US air strikes.
"I heard a very powerful explosion around 10:30 pm (1830 GMT) coming from the Shuhada neighbourhood," said a resident on condition of anonymity.
The US military has carried out at least seven air strikes over the past month on suspected hideouts of loyalists of alleged Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, most of them in southern Fallujah.
Two raids in early July killed 23 people.
Zarqawi, who is blamed for some of the bloodiest car bombs and attacks in Iraq, has a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head.
Mohammed said later that eight people, including five children were admitted to hospital on Friday with wounds when US troops clashed with gunmen near homes in Khaldiya, west of Fallujah, and fired at a depot of old military equipment in the city.
There was no immediate confirmation of either incident from the US military.
He said one person was also admitted to hospital after fresh clashes in an industrial zone in southeastern Fallujah on Friday morning.
In April, hundreds were killed during bitter fighting between US marines and insurgents in the town, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Baghdad.
US forces besieged the city after four American civilian security contractors were killed and two of their bodies mutilated there. Their killers were never found.