The Fallujah city council chairman, a critic of al-Qaida who took the job after his three predecessors were assassinated, was killed today – the latest blow in a violent internal Sunni struggle for control of an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad.

Apparently seeking to calm fears that he will not go after militia gunmen loyal to one of his key political backers, Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki said 400 fighters from the Mahdi Army had been arrested over the past several weeks.

The Shiite militia run by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah today in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by the country’s powerful, unofficial armies, witnesses and police said.

The Shiite militia run by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah today in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by the country’s powerful, unofficial armies.

A roadside bomb ripped through a bus today killing 10 people working for an organisation opposed to the Iranian regime, police said.