MAHMUDIYA, Sept 4: Forty-two people were killed on Saturday in one of the bloodiest days since the interim Iraqi government came to office two months ago , as police suffered heavy losses in two separate incidents and clashes raged between US soldiers and guerillas.

In another blow to the fragile oil industry, saboteurs set ablaze pipelines in southern and northern Iraq, while the fate of two French journalists held hostage by a radical group remained uncertain.

Iraqi police and national guard, assisted by US forces, launched a major assault on the no-go zone of Latifyah, a bastion of resistance south of Baghdad, in the boldest offensive by the new government.

Twelve policemen were killed and five national guardsmen wounded in the raids that saw 200 hundred suspects arrested, an Iraqi national guard intelligence official said.

The official was speaking from Mahmudiya, another town on the deadly stretch of road where foreigners, US forces and Iraqi police have often been targeted by guerillas.

Two French journalists held hostage by a radical group disappeared on Aug 20 while travelling the perilous route.

Violence also flared in the northern city of Kirkuk, where 17 people were killed and 36 wounded in a suicide car bombing. Fourteen of the dead were policemen.

Also in northern Iraq, 13 Iraqis were killed and 53 civilians wounded as US troops and guerillas battled for six hours in Tall Afar, west of the main city of Mosul.

A battalion from the US Army and a small Iraqi national guard attachment poured into the city early in the morning to hunt down a "terrorist cell" and detained a wanted individual, the military said.

Guerillas hit a US helicopter with gunfire and two soldiers were wounded as the chopper made an emergency landing.

Soldiers killed two guerillas after coming under rocket-propelled grenade fire while guarding the downed chopper.-AFP