A suicide car bomber struck a mostly Shiite neighbourhood today in central Baghdad, killing 26 people, hours after the prime minister promised the coming US-Iraq security sweep in the capital would pursue militants wherever they were hiding.

Iraq’s prime minister has blamed the mass kidnapping at an education ministry building on an inter-militia conflict.

The Iraqi prime minister's office said only 45 to 50 people had been kidnapped in a lightning raid on a Baghdad higher education office today, and 20 of them had been released.

A mortar barrage followed minutes later by a car bomb struck Baghdad’s upscale Karradah district today, killing 31 people and wounding 153, police said.

A mortar barrage followed minutes later by a car bomb struck Baghdad’s upscale Karradah district today, killing a total of 27 people and wounding 63, police said.