KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait – Kuwaiti security forces stormed a building in a residential part of the capital and exchanged gunfire with suspected terrorists yesterday, killing one in a battle that also left a security officer and a bystander dead, the government said.

The clash was the third battle this month between security forces and suspected rebels. Kuwait, a major ally of America, has been battling fundamentalists who oppose the presence of the American military in their country.

State-owned Kuwaiti Television reported that three suspects had died, but the Interior Ministry said later yesterday that only one was killed, along with a police officer and a Bahraini man who lived in the building. Another suspect was injured and a third was arrested, the ministry said in a statement.

Four police officers were wounded in the shootout, according to the statement.

The clash happened in Kuwait City’s Salmiyah neighborhood, where many foreign residents live. Residents heard gunfire for several minutes and saw police cordon off the area.

Kuwaiti Television aired footage of a six-floor building scarred by bullets and with shattered windows. Blood covered the floor, in front of an elevator on one floor and a body lying on a flight of stairs was shown. A police officer was shown picking up a machine gun, a CD, and a diskette in what appeared to be an apartment.

Earlier this month, police engaged in two clashes with armed insurgents that led to the deaths of two suspects and two policemen.

Authorities have arrested more than 25 Kuwaiti and Saudi terror suspects since January 10. Seven of them, including a woman, have been referred to prosecutors for planning terrorist attacks or failing to report such plans to the police.

On Saturday, the American Embassy reiterated a warning to Americans, saying that “the possibility exists of further violent clashes” as security officials pursued those involved in the shootouts.

A message posted on the embassy Web site also said terrorists may “seek softer targets such as public transportation, and public areas where people congregate.”

The messages were the latest in several security-related messages from the embassy in January.

On January 10, a Kuwaiti fundamentalist and two policemen were killed in a clash in a Kuwait City suburb. Five days later, a Saudi fundamentalist was killed in a shootout at Umm al-Haiman, a town near the Saudi border.

Kuwait has had close ties with Washington since an American-led coalition liberated it in 1991 from a seven month Iraqi occupation. The country was the launch pad for the 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppled the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, and it is still a logistics stop for American troops serving there.

Since 2002, fundamentalists have carried out attacks against Americans, killing one American Marine and a civilian American military contractor.