AIDES of a radical Shi’ite cleric met yesterday with a key Sunni group seeking to ease sectarian tensions in Iraq, while gunmen killed a top trade ministry official as a spree of violence that followed the announcement of a new government entered its fourth week.

Clashes between British forces and Shiite militia in the southern Iraqi city of Amarah left 14 people dead and 42 injured today, according to the Health Ministry.

Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawer threatened today to use a “very sharp sword” to fight insurgents and anyone else threatening the security of the country.

Four mortar rounds rocked a neighbourhood near the political party headquarters of Iraq’s new interim prime minister today, injuring six people, an Interior Ministry official said.

Militants loyal to suspected al-Qaida terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have threatened to behead three Turkish hostages, fanning tensions as President Bush visited Turkey.

Insurgents launched separate attacks on two Shiite Muslim political parties today, killing three people and wounding two others, hospital officials and witnesses said.

The head of Iraqi Governing Council was killed today in a car bombing near a US checkpoint in central Baghdad, an Iraqi official said.

Opposition leaders in Iraq say that Saddam Hussein has been rushed to hospital after suffering a "severe stroke".