RAMADI, Iraq, Oct 13 (AFP) - Fresh clashes between armed rebels and US soldiers left three Iraqis dead and 12 wounded early Wednesday, hospital sources told AFP.
"Three corpses were brought to the hospital and another 12 wounded," said Dr Taleb Dulaimi of Ramadi's general hospital, without clarifying whether they were civilians or insurgents.
The fighting followed Tuesday's pre-dawn sweep by US marines and Iraqi forces of at least seven mosques in the rebel bastion of Ramadi, sparking firefights in which two Iraqis were killed.
A senior Sunni cleric for the restive Al-Anbar province, Sheikh Abdul al-Aleem al-Sadi, and one of his sons were jailed in the raids, prompting criticism from the preacher's organisation, the Committee of Muslim Scholars.
The Sunni association also announced Wednesday the Americans had arrested a tribal leader, Sheikh Abdul Karim al-Uda, a chief of the Zuba tribe and two of his sons, one of whom belongs to the Committee of Muslim Scholars.
The committee, which groups 3,000 mosques across Iraq, has become the premier voice among Sunni Muslims since the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime, which was dominated by their religious group.
Ramadi is the capital of the western province of Al-Anbar, home to the city of Fallujah where the Sunni rebellion against the US deployment in Iraq is at its most intense.