Kidnapped Sunni MP Tayseer al-Mashhadani was released today after being held for nearly two months, an adviser to the Iraqi Prime Minister said.

THE largest Sunni Arab bloc in Iraq’s parliament said yesterday it was suspending its participation in the legislature until a kidnapped colleague was released, dealing a blow to efforts to involve the disaffected minority in the political process.

A Shiite legislator escaped an assassination attempt today after a roadside bomb missed his convoy in downtown Baghdad, a day after the kidnapping of a Sunni legislator.