(CBS/AP) U.S. troops backed by attack helicopters clashed with militants in Mosul on Tuesday. Troops and militants fought with heavy exchanges of machine gun fire heard, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

U.S. forces were seen advancing into the eastern neighborhood of Dhubbat, a known insurgent stronghold in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

"Forces were attacked and called in helicopters to support them in the battle with insurgents," said U.S. military spokesman Sgt. John H. Franzen. He did not have further details.

Heavy machine gun exchanges took place in the area between militants and U.S. forces, said the AP reporter who witnessed the clashes.

In other recent developments:

A roadside bomb blast Tuesday killed one U.S. soldier and wounded another near Tikrit, north of Baghdad, the military said.

Al Qaeda in Iraq purportedly posted an Internet statement Tuesday blasting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent visit to Iraq and criticizing her calls to include Sunni Arabs in the political process. The statement, posted on a Web site that has previously carried similar communiqués, said Rice was not welcome in Iraq and that she had "desecrated" its land. The authenticity of the statement, which was signed by the so-called spokesman of the group, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, could not be verified.

Spc. Sabrina Harman, 27, was found guilty late Monday on six of the seven charges she faced for her role in the mistreatment of Iraqi inmates in late 2003. The military jury that convicted of taking part in detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison will decide how harshly to punish her on Tuesday.

Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr came out of hiding Monday for the first time since his fighters clashed with American forces in Najaf and Baghdad in August, delivering a fiery speech demanding that coalition forces leave Iraq and that Saddam Hussein be punished.

In Baghdad, gunmen killed a Shiite Muslim cleric, and two missing Sunni clerics were found shot dead, police said.

The cleric killings threaten to increase sectarian tensions in Iraq a day after the government vowed to crack down on anyone targeting Shiites and Sunnis. The defense minister said Iraqi troops would no longer be allowed to enter houses of worship or universities.

"I am hearing that Iraqi National Guards are raiding mosques and Shiite town houses," Defense Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi said Monday. "We have issued orders to all units that say it is strictly prohibited to all members of the defense ministry to raid mosques, Shiite town houses and churches."

Shiite cleric Sheik Mouwaffaq al-Husseini was shot in a drive-by shooting by unknown gunmen while driving in Baghdad's western Jihad neighborhood, police Capt. Taleb Thamer said.

Two Sunni clerics were found shot dead after being kidnapped by men Sunday from different mosques in Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Shaab by men wearing Iraqi army uniforms, a senior police official said on condition of anonymity.

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©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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