A car bomb exploded yesterday at a Baghdad restaurant popular with police, killing at least seven people and wounding at least 82, and militants assassinated a top national security official.

Two carloads of gunmen were behind the assassination of a top national security official and his driver in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad today, police have said.

Gunmen assassinated a top aide to Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s Cabinet in Baghdad today, police said.