Nine policemen died in a pair of shootouts in Baqouba, 57km northeast of Baghdad, officials said. Six policemen and two soldiers were killed in another gunbattle in Buhriz, a suburb of Baqouba, officials said.

Three Iraqi soldiers also died Saturday when their convoy was attacked by gunmen near Adhaim, 30 miles north of Baqouba, police Col. Abdullah Qadir said.

The attacks occurred in Diyala province, a religiously and ethnically mixed area with a Sunni majority.

Elsewhere, Iraqi civilians reported fighting late Friday in the outskirts of Tal Afar, an ethnically mixed insurgent stronghold 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Hospital officials said they were unsure of casualties because it was too dangerous for ambulances to reach the area. US armoured vehicles could be seen in the hills outside the city, the Iraqis said.

Iraqi police clashed with insurgents late Friday at the Tal Afar bus station after receiving reports that insurgents were storing weapons there, Iraqi Brig. Gen. Said Ahmed al-Jibouri said. One insurgent was killed and six others were arrested.

In Samarra, 100km north of Baghdad, four civilians were killed and 11 injured when three mortar shells fired at a US installation missed the target and landed in a residential area, police said.

Elsewhere, gunmen abducted three Iraqi contractors after they left the US-run Taji air base some 10 miles north of Baghdad, police Lt. Miqdad al-Khazragi said.