Four car bombs and attacks on three police stations in the central Iraqi city of Samarra have left at least 37 people dead and 62 wounded. A health official said 23 people, including nine policemen, had been killed and 40 wounded, among them 17 policemen, in the first three bomb explosions in the city north of Baghdad. The fourth blast occurred at 12.30(0930GMT) when a bomber rammed a car into a police station, killing 10 Iraqi police officers and wounding five, police said. The local commander of the Iraqi rapid reaction force, Brigadier Abd al-Razzaq al-Jarmin, was among the dead in the first two blasts near the town hall and a nearby checkpoint. Samarra's mayor, Major General Tariq Uwaid, was wounded. "I saw a car trying to reach the town hall," said bookshop owner Muhammad Ahmad. "When police stopped it, it exploded." Police said anti-US forces carried out simultaneous attacks on three police stations in Samarra, north of Baghdad, killing four policemen, wounding 17 and capturing 10. Another car bomb exploded later, targeting a US convoy that was trying to reach the scene of the first two bombings, police said. They had no word on casualties in that attack. A US military spokesman gave no information about the attack. "I cannot confirm at this stage if there was any attack on an MNF (multinational force) convoy or checkpoint in Samarra." Witnesses said US troops opened fire amid chaotic scenes in the city centre, hitting some cars. Rescue services could not immediately reach them to evacuate any casualties. **Curfew imposed*** Residents said the US military had declared a curfew due to start at midday (0900 GMT). "I saw a dead National Guard burning on the ground," said one witness after the first bombings at 9am. "I saw people carrying away another corpse." US and Iraqi forces stormed Samarra early last month to drive armed fighters off the streets of the city, 100km north of Baghdad, but fighters have remained active. Fighters often attack state buildings and fledgling security forces to undermine Iraq's US-backed interim government. In September, US and Iraqi forces seized control of Samarra, 95km north of the capital. Since then, Iraqi officials said the city had been an example of how the Americans and the Baghdad government could restore order in restive towns and cities from the anti-US forces. **Ramadi casualties*** Twenty US soldiers were wounded in action on Saturday in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, a US military spokesman said. "Twenty soldiers assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were wounded in action today while conducting increased security operations in Ramadi," the spokesman said, updating an earlier toll. He was unable to give further details on what happened. Locals from the city, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad, said a "suicide car bomb" exploded outside a US military base at about 12:50 pm (0950 GMT) in the Al-Fujariyah district, at the entrance of Ramadi. The lifeless bodies of Iraqis caught in the attack were scattered on the road outside the base, according to two witnesses. **Saudi Scholars Urge Iraqis to Support Resistance Fighters*** Prominent Saudi religious scholars have called on Iraqis to support fighters battling US-led forces, saying fighting the presence of foreign troops is a duty and a right. In an open letter addressed to the Iraqi people and posted on the internet on Saturday, 26 Saudi scholars and religious preachers stressed that armed attacks launched by Iraqi groups on US troops and their allies in Iraq were legitimate resistance. The statement came as US troops, backed by air and artillery power, were gearing up for a major assault on Falluja. The scholars issued a fatwa, or religious edict, prohibiting Iraqis from offering any support for military operations carried out by US forces against anti-US fighter strongholds. "Fighting the occupiers is a duty for all those who are able. It is a jihad to push back the assailants ...," said the letter dated 5 November. "Resistance is a legitimate right. A Muslim must not inflict harm on any resistance man or inform about them. Instead, they should be supported and protected," it said. The scholars also urged Iraqis fighting US-led forces in Iraq to spare the lives of Iraqi Muslims and not to target citizens of countries that refused to join the US-led force that invaded Iraq last year. **PHOTO CAPTION*** An Iraqi passerby walks past the body of a Turkish truck driver at the scene of a convoy attack south of Mosul, Iraq Saturday, Nov. 6, 2004. (AP)