Security developments in Iraq, Feb 22

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq as of 1315 GMT on Thursday:

RAMADI - U.S. forces killed at least 12 insurgents and wounded three in a six-hour gunbattle in Ramadi involving heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and air strikes on Wednesday evening, the U.S. military said. A civil defence official and an ambulance driver, both of whom declined to be identified, said as many as 26 people were killed, including some women and children, but a U.S. military spokesman said there were no reports of civilian casualties.

* TAJI - U.S. forces killed three militants in an air strike after seeing them preparing to attack a patrol that had arrested six suspected al Qaeda-linked insurgents near Taji, just north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - The bodies of 20 people shot dead and most showing signs of torture were found on Wednesday in different districts of Baghdad, police said. The total includes six already reported found in Ghazaliya in western Baghdad.

TAL AFAR - The U.S. military said four people were killed, including a policeman and a 12 year-old boy, and five were wounded, including two policemen, on Monday when two booby-trapped houses detonated while police were searching homes in the northern town of Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad. During the search, a policeman shot and killed a suspect and wounded two others. Police had already reported the death of one policeman.

KIRKUK - The bodies of five people were found shot and tortured on Wednesday in the outskirts of the oil rich city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

MAHAWEEL - The bodies of two people were found on Wednesday and Thursday in the town of Mahaweel, 75 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

HILLA - Police retrieved the body of a man from Euphrates river in the city of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. The body bore gun shot wounds.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was shot dead while conducting a search patrol in northern Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

BAGHDAD - Militants blew up a bomb that killed at least three people and released toxic fumes that sent dozens more to hospital with breathing problems in Baghdad on Wednesday, police and interior ministry sources said.

The bomb was in Bayaa, in southwest Baghdad. A police source put the death toll at three with 35 more hospitalised, while an interior ministry source said six were killed and 73 more wounded, including those sickened by gas thought to be chlorine.