US troops battled Iraqi police suspected of links to Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen today, killing six.

Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki said today that the formation of the Cabinet was “mostly complete,” but an influential Shiite group and some Sunni Arab politician signalled the deal was far from done.

IRAQI and US forces, acting on a tip-off, raided a dangerous Sunni neighbourhood yesterday and freed an Australian hostage.