A close aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki today sought to play down the significance of any threat to reduce American economic or military support for the Iraqi government as a high-level US commission said American policy in Iraq must change.

A suicide truck bomber struck the provincial headquarters of an Iraqi police commando force north of Baghdad today, killing at least 10 troops and wounding 18 others, police said.

Iraqi and US forces raided a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad today, triggering a gunbattle that left three people dead, while 12 others were killed elsewhere.