Al-Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq claimed an attack on a convoy in west Iraq that killed 48 Syrian soldiers and nine Iraqi guards, in a statement posted on jihadist forums on Monday.

The soldiers, who were wounded and received treatment in Iraq, were being transported through the western province of Anbar on their way back to Syria when the attack took place on March 4, according to the Iraqi defence ministry.

But the ministry blamed the attack on a "terrorist group that infiltrated into Iraqi territory coming from Syria."

The statement on jihadist forums said that Islamic State of Iraq fighters were able to destroy a column of "the Safavid army with its associated vehicles" carrying "members of the Nusairi army and Syrian regime 'shabiha.'"

Safavid is a word implying Shiites are under Iranian control, while Nusairi is a derogatory term for Alawites, the sect to which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belongs, and shabiha is a name used for Syrian pro-regime militia forces.

Baghdad has consistently avoided joining calls for the departure of Assad, against whom rebels are battling, instead saying it opposes arming either side and urging an end to the violence that has ravaged Syria for the past two years, leaving at least 70,000 people dead.

But the deadly ambush in its territory threatens to entangle Iraq in the Syrian conflict.

Baghdad is caught between conflicting pressures over Syria -- its powerful eastern neighbour, Shiite Iran, backs Assad's regime, while the United States and many Arab states want the Syrian president to bow to opposition demands and step down.

The March 4 ambush was not, however, the first time the conflict has crossed the border into Iraq.

Fire from Syria killed an Iraqi soldier in the country's north on March 2 and a young girl in western Iraq in September.

US officials have also repeatedly called on Iraq to stop allowing overflights by Iranian planes that Washington says are being used to transport weapons to Assad's forces.

On March 3, the Syrian National Council, a key opposition group, alleged that Iraq "gave political and intelligence support to the Syrian regime."

And like other countries bordering Syria, Iraq has seen the arrival of a flood of refugees fleeing the conflict -- more than 109,000, according to the United Nations, most of whom are located in northern and western Iraq.

Air strikes on Homs district attacked by Syria rebels: NGO
Beirut (AFP) March 10, 2013 - Syrian warplanes on Sunday bombed the Baba Amr district of Homs hours after insurgents attacked the former rebel stronghold that was devastated by an army siege last year, a watchdog said.

"The air force is bombing Baba Amr," which thousands of residents have returned to since it was taken by the army last March, said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Rebels had launched a surprise dawn attack on the battered Homs neighbourhood for the first time since they were driven out by the army a year ago in a bloody campaign that lasted more than a month and left hundreds dead.

The Observatory said the central Syrian city was "completed surrounded" by the army, and that "no one has the right to enter or leave."

Regime troops closed off several roads around Baba Amr, which was almost entirely under siege.

Earlier, activists said the rebels had entered the district by stealth before launching their attack.

"The rebels infiltrated Baba Amr during the night. Those manning the army checkpoints barely had time to realise what was going on," said Omar, an activist who was also in touch with the insurgents.

Baba Amr gained notoriety during last year's bloody siege, with dozens of bodies also found in neighbouring districts of Homs, including those of people fleeing the fighting, which also claimed the lives of two foreign journalists.

American reporter Marie Colvin of The Sunday Times in Britain and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik were among those who died when a makeshift media centre in Baba Amr was shelled by Syrian forces.

The army, which controls around 80 percent of Homs, launched an offensive several days ago aimed at capturing rebel enclaves, notably in the northern Khaldiyeh district and in the old city, using helicopters to bombard them.

In a video posted on the Internet on Sunday, a rebel announced "a 'great victory battle' to liberate neighbourhoods (controlled by the army), namely Baba Amr, and ease the pressure on our comrades and on besieged Homs districts."