MAHMUDIYAH, July 3: Six Iraqi national guard soldiers were killed and four wounded as they guarded an oil pipeline in an area south of Baghdad on Saturday, security and medical sources said.

"Five dead bodies were brought in here, comprising one lieutenant and four soldiers, as well as five wounded people, three of whom were seriously hurt," said Haydar Sabah, a doctor at the hospital in Mahmudiyah, 30 kilometres south of Baghdad.

One of the five wounded died later at the capital's Yarmuk hospital, a medical source said.

Mr Sabah said the wounded looked as though they had been hurt by shrapnel from a hand grenade.

The 10 soldiers had been guarding an oil pipeline by the small town of Latifiyah when they were attacked, a national guard commander said.

"I think it was Iraqis working with foreign fighters. Latifiyah is becoming more dangerous than Fallujah," he said, referring to the flashpoint Sunni Muslim stronghold west of Baghdad.

Local residents indicated that the guards were attacked at a checkpoint set up near the town, eight kilometres south of Mahmudiyah.

Two of the wounded were discharged after receiving treatment while the three more serious cases were transferred to a hospital in Baghdad.-AFP