Masked Shiite gunmen went on a rampage in western Baghdad today, pulling Sunni Arabs from cars and off the street and killing at least 41 people, police said.

The US military has launched an investigation into claims that American forces shot dead 15 members of two families, including a three year-old-girl, shortly after a roadside bomb killed a US Marine in a western Iraqi town.

Two suicide bombers today killed 20 police officers and wounded another 96 in Hillah, south of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said.

The former Iraqi information minister whose wildly implausible claims of victory during the war led to him being dubbed “Comical Ali”, has made his first TV appearance since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Comical Ali, the former Iraqi information minister who gained notoriety during the war for wildly implausible claims of victory – made his first TV appearance today since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime.