The sudden release of an Iranian diplomat missing for two months in Iraq raised new hope today that 15 British sailors and marines seized by Iran may soon be freed.

Nine Iraqi sailors detained by Iran after a weekend clash involving an Iranian vessel are expected to be returned later today, according to Iraqi officials.

Unidentified gunmen assassinated a top Iraqi Foreign Ministry official tonight as he stood outside his Baghdad home, police said.

Iraqi gunmen kidnapped three Lebanese in Iraq and killed one of them, Lebanese Foreign Ministry officials confirmed today.

A projectile was fired at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in Baghdad today, causing a large explosion but no casualties, witnesses said.

Iraq could have an an elected government in less than a year, the US administrator said today.

Labour MP George Galloway faced fresh allegations about his links to Saddam Hussein today.

Iraq today invited chief UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei to visit Baghdad at the “earliest suitable date” to speed up joint cooperation on outstanding disarmament issues, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

An American U-2 surveillance plane has made its first flight over Iraq in support of the current UN inspection mission, marking another concession by President Saddam Hussein’s regime to stave off a US-led attack.

UN arms inspectors found another empty chemical warhead on one of a dozen surprise inspections as they pressed ahead on a mission in which Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, in a rare interview, said he hopes they “reach the truth”.

The chief UN arms inspectors arrived in Baghdad today for urgent talks with Iraqi officials, bearing a long list of questions about Iraq’s weapons programmes and a demand for more “active co-operation” from Saddam Hussein’s government.

IRAQ’S arms dossier outlines its secret bids to build a nuclear weapon in the past and may list countries and companies that helped it, the table of contents suggests.

Iraq has accused the US of "unprecedented extortion" by taking the only copy of Baghdad's arms declaration to the UN Security Council.

IRAQ and Iran yesterday exchanged the remains of 1,736 soldiers who were captured during the 1980-1988 war and died in captivity, a further step toward normalising relations between the two neighbours.