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

Guards working for an Australian-owned security company fired on a white Oldsmobile in central Baghdad, killing two Christian women then speeding away - the latest seemingly unprovoked attack on civilians by the heavily armed and some say trigger-happy teams.

The most prominent figure in a revolt of Sunni sheikhs against al Qaida in Iraq was killed today in an explosion near his home in Anbar province, Iraqi police and tribal leaders said.

Sporadic gunfire echoed through the centre of Karbala in Iraq early today after clashes between rival Shiite militias claimed up to 51 lives.

Police ordered a curfew today in Shiite holy city of Karbala and told more than one million pilgrims to leave after two days of violence claimed least 26 lives during a Shiite religious festival.

Iraqi security forces seized 200 explosive belts today along the Syrian border, a police spokesman said, reinforcing Baghdad’s claims that its western neighbour isn’t doing enough to stop the flow of fighters and weapons to al Qaida in Iraq.

Police opened fire on a black-clad woman as she walked towards police recruits in Baghdad, detonating her suicide bomb, the Iraqi Interior Ministry reported.

Gunmen killed 23 members of an ancient religious sect in northern Iraq after stopping their bus and separating followers of other faiths, as car bombings in the capital killed at least another 20 people.

Gunmen killed 23 members of the Yazidi religious minority in northern Iraq today, after stopping their bus and separating out followers of other faiths, police said.

Al-Qaida-led Iraqi insurgents issued a video today purporting to show the killing of 20 kidnapped Iraqi police and soldiers, each shot in the head execution-style as they knelt in a row.

An al-Qaida-linked Sunni group said today that it kidnapped 18 government workers and soldiers in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shiite-dominated police force.

The bodies of 14 Iraqi security officers were found dead today after a militant group claimed to have kidnapped them, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said.

A British soldier was killed when a roadside bomb hit an army patrol in southern Iraq today.

Saddam Hussein’s chief lawyer today implored world leaders to prevent the United States from handing over the ousted leader to Iraqi authorities for execution, saying the former dictator should enjoy protect from his enemies as a “prisoner of war".

Iraq's government indefinitely postponed a much-anticipated national reconciliation conference today as at least 83 people were reported dead in a two-day spree of sectarian revenge killings and insurgent bombings.