United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the reduction in attacks across Iraq and called for similar improvements in the political arena.

Osama bin Laden warned Iraq’s Sunni Arabs against joining tribal councils fighting al-Qaida or participating in any unity government in a new audio tape posted on the web today.

Two separate suicide attacks in Iraq killed at least 34 people and wounded scores more today, shattering more than a week of relative calm.

Twenty-two people, including three children, were killed today when a suicide car bomb exploded outside a residential complex belonging to a state-run oil company in Iraq.