Gunmen ambushed an Iraqi police checkpoint in northern Iraq before dawn today, killing six officers in a sophisticated attack on fledgling Iraqi security installations, police said.

US-led forces conducting a crackdown on al-Qaida killed a senior member of the insurgent group who was responsible for the high-profile kidnappings of several Westerners, a military spokesman said today.

Eight people died when a suicide car bomber hit an Iraqi army checkpoint today.

A car bomb exploded today in central Iraq, killing five people, including four police officers on patrol, while gunmen killed an education official in Baghdad.