Fierce clashes between suspected al-Qaeda militants and villagers in Diyala north of Baghdad have left at least 51 Iraqis dead.

Fighting erupted in Diyala on Sunday as al-Qaeda militants tried to regain control of several villages around Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, but volunteer paramilitary forces drove them away, said Abdul Karim al-Rubaie of the provincial command center.

According to Iraqi officials 16 of the victims were members of local forces. Thirty-five al-Qaeda insurgents also died in the fighting.

"Most of those killed from the villages were members of the anti-Qaeda front formed recently in the area," said another police officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim al-Obeidi.

"It is a battle of life and death, it is a continuous fight until we cleanse all the villages on the outskirts of Khalis," Obeidi added.

The attacked villages were previously strongholds of al-Qaeda.

JS/RE