Twelve US soldiers were wounded in separate grenade attacks in central Baghdad on Friday, the US military said.

Insurgents lobbed eight hand grenades at US soldiers at around 10:00 am (0600 GMT), wounding five US soldiers.

Another attack took place an hour later when insurgents threw two hand grenades wounding five other soldiers, and a third attack 45 minutes after that left two more soldiers wounded. As the soldiers finished their patrol at around 1:00 pm, another two hand grenades were thrown, but no soldiers were wounded, the US military said.

Eight people were arrested in connection with the attacks, the military said, without specifying the exact location of the incident.

Meanwhile, witnesses said fighting broke out on Friday in Baghdad's Haifa Street neighborhood,an area notorious as a haven for insurgents, with US armoured vehicles blocking streets and helicopters hovering overhead.

Gunfire could be heard and columns of smoke were rising from the area, according to the witnesses.

Source: Xinhua