BAGHDAD, Dec. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Clashes broke out between US forces and rebels in central Baghdad on Sunday, eve of the anniversary of the capture of the toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

   Xinhua correspondents heard gun shots and sporadic explosions behind the magnificent apartment buildings in the Haifa Street, which was twice cordoned off in the morning for searches.

   Media reports said Iraq's National Guard troops were targeted by insurgents, who fired rocket-propelled grenades and small fire. The guards returned fire and confiscated weapons in following raids.
There was no word on casualties.

   Elsewhere, a car bomb detonated near an American convoy. No soldiers were killed or injured in the incident, which took place on a road west of Baghdad, said the US military.

   The violence erupted one day before the anniversary of the capture of Saddam, who was found hidden in an underground hole near his hometown in northern Iraq and did not make any attempt to resist before he was handcuffed by US troops.

   The declaration of the capture was followed by car bombings and gun battles in Baghdad, which has been a daily scene of clashes and bombings in the past year.

   Stretching alongside the western bank of the Tigris River, Haifa Street, where Saddam graduated from a high school, has now become a stronghold for anti-US militants.

   "They are not necessarily Saddam supporters," said Dhafer Mahmoud, a vender in the street, adding "they come with masks and it is said some of them are from foreign countries."   Enditem