American and Iraqi forces clashed with insurgents in Mosul on Friday, the latest in a surge of violence in the northern Iraqi city. The clashes occurred a day after an American soldier was killed and two Iraqi commandos were wounded on a patrol in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city and an increasingly troublesome place for the U.S. military and its Iraqi allies. Insurgents first fired several mortar rounds at a U.S. base in Mosul, causing no damage or casualties. Iraqi and American forces went out to find the source of those attacks and then traded fire with gunmen, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Hastings. He said there were "isolated clashes" in the downtown areas of Mosul. Khasro Gouran, deputy governor of Nineveh, the province where Mosul is located, said the local government building had also been shelled early Friday. He said two people were killed and 14 wounded. On Thursday, Iraqi and U.S. forces discovered 14 unidentified bodies in Mosul, and there were reports of five more bodies picked up by family members. That brought to at least 66 the number of bodies _ many of them believed members of the Iraqi security forces or supporters of the interim government in Baghdad _ found there since Nov. 18.
