Baghdad  - A suspected senior member of the al-Qaeda terrorist network was shot dead by US and British forces in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a security source said Thursday.

"The suspect was killed when a hotel in central Basra was raided after intelligence reports said that he has taken refuge in it," the source told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

British forces confirmed the incident to VOI, but provided no further information about it.

Security forces have conducted raid and search operations in Basra to track down the wanted and suspects, ever since the clashes that broke out between security forces and Mahdi Army militants, loyal to anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr last March.

Meanwhile, two civilians died and seven were wounded, including a policeman, when a car exploded north of Mosul.

The northern city of Mosul is usually heavily crowded in the evening since the beginning of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which started at the beginning of September, due to the curfew imposed from midnight until dawn in that part of the city. (dpa)