Two female backpackers from Europe were savagely attacked on a remote Australian beach by a travelling companion they had met hours earlier, police said.

A man has been arrested by police in Australia charged with attempting to rape and murder two female backpackers on a remote beach.

A suicide truck bomber set off his explosives today in a public market in the centre of Tal Afar, in the north of Iraq, killing at least 17 people and injuring 35, police said.