Militants using Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades stormed two police stations today near the central Iraqi town of Baqouba, police said.

A mortar shell targeting an Iraqi police station in central Iraq fell short, killing two children in a nearby house.

Iraqi officials suspect that 50 US trained Iraqi soldiers murdered by insurgents – many of them execution-style – may have been set up by rebel infiltrators in their ranks.

Around 50 Iraqi soldiers were killed execution-style after insurgents intercepted minibuses carrying them home on leave, officials said today.

Iraqi police said today the bodies of 49 soldiers from the new Iraqi army had been found south of Baqouba.