TALL AFAR, Iraq, Sept 4 (AFP) - Thirteen Iraqis were killed and 53 wounded in heavy clashes between US forces and insurgents in Tall Afar, west of the main northern city of Mosul, medics said.
Dr. Fawzi Ahmed, from the local district hospital in this mainly Shiite Turkmen town, said 13 Iraqi civilians had been killed and 53 wounded.
The US Army reported three of its troops wounded and the Iraqi National Guard two.
Witnesses and police said the fighting broke out at around 8:30 am (0430 GMT) when US forces, backed by national guard troops, surrounded two neighbourhoods and started carrying out house-to-house searches.
Columns of smoke filled the sky as insurgents lobbed mortar rounds and fired Kalashnikovs in response to the US armoured vehicles, warplanes and helicopter gunships, an AFP reporter witnessed.
The US Army`s 2nd Infantry Division entered the city at 8:00 am (0400 GMT) to hunt down a "terrorist cell" and detained one wanted individual, the military said.
"The city of Tall Afar has been a suspected haven for terrorists crossing into Iraq from Syria," it charged.
Amid heavy fighting, an aircraft dropped a one-tonne bomb near the city, the military acknowledged.
Soldiers killed two insurgents and detained 18, the US military said, adding that an OH-58D Kiowa helicopter made a controlled landing near Tal Afar after being hit by gunfire. None of the crew were seriously injured.
US forces left the town at around 2:00 pm (1000 GMT), but insurgents were hunkered down in their positions around Tall Afar for fear of a fresh assault by US and Iraqi government forces.