Iraq’s prime minister has ordered the army to stop shelling populated areas held by the Islamic State group.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki received a red-carpet welcome at Iran’s presidential palace today at the start of his first official visit to the Shiite Muslim country since taking office in May.

Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki imposed a ban on all vehicle traffic today in Baghdad and the volatile Diyala province in an apparent effort to prevent reprisal attacks by suicide car bombers following the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Prime minister Nouri Maliki today said 2,500 Iraqi prisoners would be freed from US and Iraqi-run detention centres as part of reconciliation efforts in the war-torn country.