An attack on a US post in the Iraqi city of Samarra has set off street battles in which a civilian has been killed and seven Iraqi National Guards wounded. Police said the fighting began around 9pm (1800 GMT) on Friday and continued past midnight. A US military spokeswoman had no immediate information on the clashes. American troops and Iraqi security forces stormed the city, 100km north of Baghdad, early this month to wrest control from armed fighters as part of a campaign to pacify Iraq before elections planned for January. Elsewhere, Iraqi and US military forces arrested 22 people during a joint raid near northern Kirkuk, the US military said on Saturday. Nine of the detainees were known to be members of a "terror cell", the US command said. They were taken to a detention centre for questioning. There were no injuries reported during the operation. Kirkuk is located 290km north of Baghdad. **US soldier killed*** Also on Saturday, the US military announced that a bomber killed a US soldier and wounded another near the western Iraqi city of Ramadi. A spokesman said the attack on a US army convoy occurred at 8am (0500 GMT) on Friday. The soldier's death brought to 1111 the number of US military personnel killed in Iraq since the start of last year's war that removed Saddam Hussein. US marines are preparing for a possible assault on Ramadi and Falluja in an effort to curb resistance to the US presence in Iraq, and enable the country to conduct national assembly elections due in January. **PHOTO CAPTION*** An Iraqi woman carries her wounded son in a hospital in the northern town of Samarra October 20, 2004. (REUTERS)