A dozen civilians are killed and scores others wounded in fighting in northern Iraq, while several US troops are injured in clashes across the country. At least 12 Iraqis were killed and 60 others were wounded as clashes erupted in the northern town of Tal Affar, an Iraqi journalist, an Ammar al-Zubaidi, told Aljazeera on Saturday. The fighting in Tal Afar, near the city of Mosul, began after US troops and Iraqi forces encircled al-Sarai and Hasankul districts in the town, al-Zubaidi said. Meanwhile, a US military helicopter was forced to land near the town of Tal Afar on Saturday and the two crew members aboard the UH-58 were injured, a US military spokesman said. He said it was not immediately clear what forced the helicopter to land but it happened as fighting raged in the area. Explosions and machinegun fire have continued to rock Tal Afar, about 390km north of Baghdad, witnesses said. Elsewhere in Iraq, a US military Humvee was destroyed on Saturday morning in al-Hashimiya area west of the central city Baquba, Aljazeera has learnt. The US vehicle was about to detonate a landmine when an explosive device planted on the main road blew up, wounding a number of US soldiers, sources told Aljazeera. **Rising casualties*** "The number of casualties is expected to rise as the clashes and bombing by helicopters are continuing," said Dr Khalil Ibrahim Rashid at Tal Afar hospital. He said "many houses have been bombed and destroyed with the residents still inside". "All casualties are civilians, including women and children," Dr Rashid stressed. The doctor also said the town has been sealed off since early Saturday morning, "turning it into a banned military zone". Tal Afar has witnessed much bloodshed in recent weeks. Around 30 civilians were wounded in apparent crossfire during clashes between US forces and suspected resistance fighters on 29 August. **Pipeline blast*** Meanwhile, a pipeline near the main southern Iraqi city of Basra has been attacked, less than two days after northern exports were halted by a huge attack on a pipeline to Turkey, police said. Firefighters struggled on Saturday to put out the blaze caused by the explosion near Hartha, 30km north of Basra, said police Major Colonel Nuri Muhammad. A South Oil Company official said on condition of anonymity that technicians were forced to close the pipeline, which carries 15,000 barrels of crude a day from the Nahran Omar oilfields to an export storage tank called Zubayr-1 in the Faw peninsula. Resistance fighters have launched repeated attacks on Iraq's vital oil industry in a bid to undermine the interim government and reconstruction efforts. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Two Iraqi boys lie with injuries in a hospital following clashes August 29, 2004 around Tal Afar, near the northern city of Mosul. (REUTERS)