The goalkeeper of the Kirkuk football club was kidnapped travelling from northern Iraq to visit relatives in Baghdad, a sports official said.

The goalkeeper of the Kirkuk football club was kidnapped as he was travelling from northern Iraq to visit relatives in Baghdad, a sports official said tonight.

Bowing to intense pressure, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari agreed to allow Shiite politicians to find someone else to head the new government, abandoning his claim on another term in the face of Sunni and Kurdish opposition.

A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside the Iraqi police academy in the northern city of Kirkuk today as hundreds of trainees and civilians were leaving for the day, killing at least 20 people and wounding 36, authorities said.

A suicide bomber detonated an explosive-packed vehicle outside an Iraqi police station in the northern city of Kirkuk today, killing at least 10 people and wounding 45 others.