A series of car bombs targeted American and Iraqi troops in separate areas of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a day after security forces captured a would-be suicide bomber near the entrance to the heavily guarded Green Zone. Scattered mortar fire shook two north Baghdad districts.

Iraqi troops are ready to take control of some cities as a first step toward sending home American and other foreign soldiers, Iraq’s prime minister said. But he rejected any timetable for a pull-out.

AL-QAIDA in Iraq yesterday claimed that it has killed Egypt’s top envoy in Iraq, posting a video of the blindfolded diplomat identifying himself.

Al-Qaida in Iraq said in a web posting today that it had killed Egypt’s top envoy in Iraq, showing a video of the blindfolded diplomat identifying himself. The video did not show his death.

Kidnappers of Egypt’s top diplomat in Iraq threatened to kill him because today on an al-Qaida-linked website.

Insurgents mounted attacks against Arab and Muslim diplomats in Iraq today, wounding Bahrain’s top envoy in a kidnapping attempt. Pakistan’s ambassador also escaped an assault on his convoy.

A car bomb in Baghdad has killed two civilians and wounded four more this morning, police said, a day after Egypt’s top envoy to Iraq was kidnapped in an apparent bid to dissuade the country’s Arab neighbours from strengthening ties to the US-backed government.

AN Egyptian envoy expected to become Iraq’s first Arab ambassador since its new government took office was kidnapped in Baghdad, weeks after arriving in the country, diplomats said yesterday.

Egypt’s top envoy to Iraq was kidnapped in Baghdad just weeks after arriving in the country, Egyptian diplomats said today.