A suicide car bomb struck a motorcade of the governor of Anbar province on Tuesday, killing three of his bodyguards, a local police source said.

"A suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden vehicle into the motorcade of Maamoun al-Alwani in central Ramadi," the source said.

Three of Alwani's bodyguards were confirmed killed in the attack, but there is no immediate word on Alwani's fate, said the source.

Last year, Alwani was wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire at him as he was leaving Ramadi's main al-Dawla al-Kabeer mosque, wounding him and killing three of his bodyguards along with two policemen.

The predecessor of Alwani was kidnapped and killed last year.

Since last week, fierce clashes took place between insurgents and the U.S. troops in Ramadi, where the U.S. military said on Tuesday that Iraqi and U.S. troops had killed more than 100 insurgents.

Two Iraqi soldiers died but no American casualties in the clashes.

Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, is one of several violent cities in the restive Anbar province where insurgency has rampaged since the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq in 2003.

Source: Xinhua