BAGHDAD: Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed in clashes with gunmen yesterday, police and hospital sources said, as fears mount that Iraq might slide back into bloody sectarian strife.

Unidentified gunmen fired on an army checkpoint in Taji, 20 km north of the capital Baghdad overnight, killing four soldiers, police and hospital sources said.

In the western province of Anbar, three soldiers were killed during a two-hour gunbattle with men who attacked a checkpoint controlled by government-backed Sunni fighters in Garma, 9 km east of the city of Falluja, police said.

There was no word on casualties among the attackers, or on their identity.