Two car bombs rocked northern Baghdad neighbourhoods today while another struck a Shiite holy city, in attacks that left at least 16 dead and 49 wounded, police and provincial officials said.

A British military helicopter crashed in Basra today, and Iraqis hurled stones at British troops and set fire to at least one armoured vehicle that rushed to the scene. Clashes broke out between British troops and Shiite militias, police and witnesses said.

A tourist bus overturned on a highway in southern Egypt early today, killing 14 tourists from Hong Kong and injuring 30 more, some critically, Egypt’s news agency reported.

At least 22 Iraqis, eight US troops and one Salvadoran soldier died in one of the worst days of violence in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein