About 50 Iraqi insurgents were killed when US warplanes bombed hideouts in the Iraqi town of Samarra on Saturday, the military said in a statement.

The statement said a series of 500-pound (250 kg) bombs were dropped on "known enemy locations" near the city, about 95 km north of Baghdad, in an operation.

"Initial reports indicate that approximately 50 anti-Iraqi forces were killed during a series of operations near Samarra on Aug. 14 which started at about 12:01 a.m.," the statement said.

It said insurgents attacked US soldiers with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades during the clashes, but there were no coalition casualties.

Also on Saturday, a senior official from Iraqi Interior Ministry said 40 militants and three police officers were killed during a furious fighting overnight between Shiite militiamen and US forces backed by Iraqi police in the city of Hilla, about 100 km south of Baghdad.

The fighting erupted in the city late on Friday and had eased by early Saturday, the official said.

Source: Xinhua