12 suspected insurgents killed in Iraq clash

Coalition soldiers fought suspected insurgents near a Syrian border town in a battle that killed 12 militants, injured a six-year-old girl and wounded six coalition soldiers, the US military said today.

The fighting, which included a US air strike, occurred on Monday around the town of Qaim, when the coalition forces tracked down and confronted a small group of suspected members of the terrorist group al-Qaida in Iraq, the military said.