The body of the only American among four Christian peace activists kidnapped late last year was found near a west Baghdad railway line with gunshots to his head and chest, Iraqi police said today.

Gunmen in Interior Ministry commando uniforms stormed the Baghdad, Iraq, offices of a private security company and kidnapped as many as 50 employees today.

TWO explosions hit Shi’ite targets in war-torn Iraq after sundown yesterday, killing at least 15 people and raising the death toll for the day to at least 56.

Two explosions hit Shiite targets in northern Baghdad after sundown today, killing at least 15 people and wounding 72, police said. The attacks raised the death toll for the day to at least 56.

Five explosions – including three car bombs, a suicide attacker wearing an explosives belt and a blast near the National Theatre – rocked Baghdad today, killing 41 people and wounding scores.

Four explosions, including two car bombs and a suicide bomber, rocked the Iraqi capital of Baghdad this morning, killing at least 36 people and injuring scores more.

GUNMEN wearing Iraqi special forces uniforms yesterday kidnapped a wealthy banker and his son after killing five of their bodyguards.

A defence lawyer in Saddam Hussein’s mass murder trial who was kidnapped has been found dead, his body dumped near a Baghdad mosque, police and a top lawyers’ union official said today.

THE US agreed to suspend offensive operations in Najaf yesterday after Iraqi leaders struck a deal with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end a stand-off threatening some of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines.