US forces claim to have killed 46 attackers and wounded at least 18 others in Samarra, north of Baghdad, after what was described as the largest attack to date against the 4th Infantry Division in Iraq.
A US commander said that five US troops and one civilian were wounded.
He said the troops repelled multiple ambush attempts on two separate logistical convoys. He said they also destroyed three buildings used in the attacks and captured eight of the attackers.
He said that they were wearing the uniforms of pro-Saddam Feddayeen fighters.
Today's ambushes came on a weekend in which 15 foreigners including seven Spanish intelligence agents, were killed in Iraq.
Spain's prime minister vowed to keep troops in Iraq despite the killing of seven intelligence agents yesterday.
Two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver, as well as two South Koreans contractors, were killed when their car was ambushed on a road near the northern town of Tikrit.
A Colombian civilian contractor was killed and two colleagues were wounded yesterday in an ambush north of Baghdad.
And two US soldiers were killed and another was wounded when a convoy was attacked west of Baghdad.
