Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi today announced the withdrawal of 600 ground troops from southern Iraq, saying they had accomplished their humanitarian mission.

Two car bombs exploded in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk today, including one targeting a Shiite mosque.

Suspected insurgents killed a brigadier general as he drove to work at the Ministry of Defence in Baghdad today, police said.

Iraqi militants claimed today they took a Japanese security contractor hostage after ambushing a convoy of foreigners and Iraqi troops in western Iraq.