Guards working for an Australian-owned security company fired on a white Oldsmobile in central Baghdad, killing two Christian women then speeding away - the latest seemingly unprovoked attack on civilians by the heavily armed and some say trigger-happy teams.

On the day of the first session of Iraq’s new parliament today, and within days of the third anniversary of the US-led invasion, the country lie under the shadow of a feared civil war and politicians report a stalemate over the next government.

Eleven people – most of them women and children – were killed when a house was bombed during a US raid north of Baghdad early today, police and relatives said.