American troops and warplanes killed at least 25 insurgents as they attacked a US outpost in Mosul with a car bomb and explosives, the military said Thursday. One US soldier died in hospital after the firefight.

The clash occurred late Wednesday after rebels detonated a car bomb near a US outpost in the restive northern Iraqi city. As reinforcements arrived, they came under fire by guerrillas using automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, military spokesman Staff Sgt. Don Dees said.

The Americans then called in an air strike by warplanes which attacked some 50 insurgents at the Yarmouk traffic circle, Dees said.

Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, has become a hotbed of insurgent activity in the past several months.

Fourteen US soldiers died Dec. 21, when a suicide bomber walked into a mess tent in Mosul packed with soldiers having lunch. In all, 22 people were killed and dozens wounded in the blast. The radical Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed responsibility for the attack.

The latest clash in Mosul came as US troops launched a new offensive in an area south of the capital dubbed the "triangle of death", in an apparent effort to secure the region ahead of crucial parliamentary elections Jan. 30.

Insurgents have intensified their strikes against the security forces of Iraq's US-installed interim government as part of a continuing campaign to disrupt the elections for a constitutional assembly.

Government troops are supposed to protect polling stations, and the insurgents' strategy — which includes attacking police stations, checkpoints and patrols — appears aimed at demonstrating the security forces are incapable of handling the job.

(Shenzhen Daily December 31, 2004)