(Adds detail, second battle) BAGHDAD, Nov 9 (Reuters) - U.S. forces killed 38 suspected insurgents and wounded nine in a firefight in northern Baghdad that lasted nearly an hour-and-a-half on Sunday, the U.S. military said. In a statement late on Wednesday describing the fighting, which occurred on the same day Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death, it said U.S. forces were attacked with rifles and rocket -propelled grenades (RPGs) from both north and south of a U.S. base. The U.S. statement said after the firefight, U.S. forces discovered one AK-47 assault rifle and three hand grenades. "The terrorist casualties were all witnessed by MND-B (Multinational Division Baghdad) soldiers, but many of the bodies and weapons were removed from the scene," it said. The military said there were no U.S. casualties but one Humvee vehicle was damaged. Baghdad was under a tight curfew on Sunday to avoid a violent backlash after a court issued the verdict against Saddam on charges of crimes against humanity. The U.S. military on Thursday reported another gunbattle in northern Iraq on Tuesday, around 45 km (30 miles) south of Kirkuk, when an estimated 25 to 30 gunmen armed with machine guns and RPGs ambushed a joint U.S. and Iraqi patrol. U.S. forces backed by helicopters killed eight gunmen and captured 14. "Coalition forces sustained one member killed and three others wounded in action," a U.S. statement said, giving no further details of the fatality.
