NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq (Nov. 6) - An attack on a U.S. military convoy wounded 20 Marines in western Iraq on Saturday, a Marine spokesman said.

He gave no details of the incident in the Sunni Muslim city of Ramadi, 68 miles west of Baghdad, for security reasons but said all the injured were from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

The spokesman could not confirm reports a suicide bomber had attacked a Marine convoy near Ramadi, one of two rebel-held cities U.S. forces hope to capture in a military offensive expected soon.

A police source in Ramadi told Reuters a car bomb had exploded near a U.S. military convoy at 2 p.m. on the main road east from the city. The source said a truck carrying troops was damaged in the blast.

Hospital workers also said at least one Iraqi was killed and 14 wounded in clashes between insurgents and U.S. forces in Ramadi. Rebels firing rocket-propelled grenades have been fighting U.S. troops apparently trying to raid homes in the city since about 7 a.m. witnesses said.

The Marines are expected to spearhead an offensive against insurgents in Ramadi and its sister city of Fallujah in a campaign to restore peace in Iraq to allow national elections to go ahead on time on Jan. 27.