At least 15 men were killed and 14 more wounded on Tuesday in fierce early morning clashes between insurgents and Sunni tribes in the central Iraq Shiite province of Babil, police and a medic said.

The ferocious firefight came just two days ahead of a planned transfer of security control in Babil by US forces to Iraqi troops.

Police lieutenant Haider al-Lami from Hilla, the capital of Babil, said the battle broke out in Jurf al-Sakhr, a town located on the border of the Sunni Anbar province and Shiite Babil, around 5.00am and raged for about two hours.

Lami said the fighting pitted suspected insurgents against members of the Sunni tribes Al-Osan and Al-Ojan, who had formed anti-Qaeda militia to oust the jihadists from their areas.

Doctor Mohammed al-Shammari from the nearby town of Iskandiriyah confirmed receiving the bodies of the victims.

Jurf al-Sakhr had been a violent town after insurgency broke out in Iraq following the US-led invasion of the country in 2003. But since the anti-Qaeda groups were formed late last year, a measure of stability was restored.

The governor of Babil Salem al-Saleh Meslmawe told AFP on Tuesday that security control of Babil province was to be handed over to Iraqi forces on Thursday.

"The decision represents the stability in the region," he said, before news was received of the early morning clashes.

Babil police chief Major General Fadhel Radad confirmed the transfer.

"The security forces in the province are ready to take control and these days they are handling the security efficiently in collaboration with the citizens," Radad said.

Babil, site of historic archaeological treasures, is the 12th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be handed over to Baghdad's control amid improving security in the violence-wracked country.

Baghdad, Diyala, Salaheddin, Nineveh, Kirkuk and Wasit remain under US control.

The US military established a sprawling base in the historic town of Babylon, just north of Hilla, after they invaded Iraq in March 2003.

According to UNESCO, their presence resulted in serious damage to Babylon's priceless antiquities.

Like most other Iraqi provinces, Babil was ripped apart by violence after the US-led invasion, seeing regular sectarian attacks on Shiite pilgrims by Sunni insurgents and al-Qaeda jihadists.

In March 2007, a brutal suicide attack in Hilla killed at least 117 pilgrims and wounded nearly 200 more.

AFP