Al-Qaida militant group in Iraq launched mortar attacks on US bases in the flash point city of Ramadi as gunmen seized its streets on Thursday, residents said.

Hundreds of armed men heavily pounded a building used by the US troops as a base in the city and the government building, said the residents.

They said leaflets were distributed all over the city claiming that the al-Qaida militant group, led by the Jordanian borne Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has taking over the city, some 110 km west of Baghdad.

A statement on the leaflets said the insurgents shot down a US plane.

US army did not immediately comment on the information from Ramadi.

Ramadi has long been a bastion of insurgency against US and Iraqi government troops. US and Iraqi troops waged series of offensives in the volatile Anbar province during the past few weeks to clear the region from insurgents.

Source: Xinhua