Vicious clashes broke out in Ramadi yesterday and 13 people died as Iraqi government security forces dismantled the country's main anti-government protest site in Anbar province.

Police finished removing the Sunni anti-government protest camp from a main road west of Baghdad late yesterday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesmanAli Mussawi said.

He said that military sources confirmed local police and tribes had "completed the removal of the tents from the site and opened the road that was closed."

This was done "without any losses, after al-Qaida and its members escaped from the camp to the city, where they are now being pursued," Mr Mussawi claimed.

However, local police and medical sources claimed that at least 13 people had been killed and dozens of others wounded in and around Ramadi.

Clashes broke out when gunmen opened fire on police special forces trying to enter Ramadi, police said.

The gunmen destroyed four police vehicles and killed at least three policemen in the north of Ramadi, according to one source.

And in Falluja, gunmen attacked army patrols along the main highway to Ramadi.

Mr Maliki had previously claimed that the protest site had become a headquarters for al-Qaida and called on legitimate demonstrators to leave.

The violence was aggravated after security forces raided the Ramadi home of Sunni MP Ahmed al-Alwani, who backed the anti-government protesters.

His arrest on Saturday sparked clashes that killed his brother, five guards and a security forces member.

The incident prompted Sheikh Abdul Malik al-Saadi, an influential Sunni cleric who had previously called on protesters to remain peaceful, to urge Sunni protesters to prepare to "defend themselves."

Protests broke out in Sunni areas of Iraq late last year after the arrest of guards of then-finance minister Rafa al-Essawi on terrorism charges.

The arrests were seen by Sunnis as an another example of the government targeting one of their leaders.