Iraqi police and security guards battled suspected armed robbers with automatic rifles in the centre of the Iraqi capital today.
About a dozen policemen closed off a main street rightoutside Baghdad's two main hotels and traded fire with anunknown number of armed men holed up in a building, witnessessaid.
Security guards from the hotels and nearby businesses joinedin the fight to flush out the suspects as stall-holders coweredon the pavement next to the river Tigris.
There was no immediate word of casualties.
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Gunfights have become common on the streets of Iraq's citiesin a wave of lawlessness since US-led forces toppled theauthoritarian government of Saddam Hussein in April.