Rush-hour bombings in Baghdad killed a government employee and wounded five other people today.

Two suicide car bombers struck within a minute of each other and just half a mile apart in south Baghdad today, killing at least seven policemen and raising the day’s bombing death toll in the capital to at least 31.

International arms inspectors revisited one of the “hot zones” of Iraq’s biological weapons programme today, peering into holding tanks and checking the ground and outbuildings to see whether military research had resumed.

INTERNATIONAL arms monitors searched a military missile testing range and a possible nuclear site outside Baghdad yesterday, kicking off a round of inspections that could determine the future of the Middle East.