A top Iraqi insurgent leader today claimed in an audiotape posted online that his al-Qaida-linked group had begun manufacturing its own rockets.

Six more American soldiers have been killed in Iraq, officials said today, pushing the US military death toll to at least 2,978 – five more than the number killed in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

A rash of bombings in Baghdad killed at least 30 people and injured dozens, police said.

British troops in the tense southern Iraqi city of Basra greatly reduced their presence in the streets today, apparently responding to a call from the provincial governor to sever co-operation until London apologised for storming a police station to free two British soldiers.

British forces in tanks and helicopters stormed an Iraqi jail tonight to rescue two service personnel who were arrested after allegedly shooting dead a local policeman and wounding another, the governor of Basra said.