A roadside bomb went off near a police patrol in the flashpoint city of Fallujah on Friday, killing a policeman and wounding three others, local police said.

"A roadside bomb detonated near a police patrol at about 8:45 a. m. (0545 GMT), damaging a police vehicle and killing a policeman and wounding three others aboard," a Fallujah police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Separately, fierce clashes broke out between Iraqi soldiers and unknown gunmen in the city's central neighborhood of Jeghaify, the source added.

There was no immediate word on casualty as Iraqi forces cordoned off the area and blocked all the roads leading to the neighborhood, the source said.

Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, has witnessed sporadic insurgent attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces despite U.S.-Iraqi military operations in the city to stamp out insurgency.

Source: Xinhua