BRITISH and Australian forces yesterday handed over security responsibility for the relatively peaceful Muthanna province to Iraqi forces in the first such transfer of an entire province.

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

A pair of bombs ripped through central Baghdad just after dawn today, killing three people and injuring 21, police said.

Attackers grabbed a Sunni Arab policeman and his brother and shot both of them dead outside their home to the south of Baghdad today.

Police in Iraq have found the bodies of 15 men in an abandoned minibus, bringing the total number recovered in the past 24 hours to at least 55, the Interior Ministry has said.

A large explosion today destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq’s most famous Shiite religious shrines, sending protesters pouring into the streets. It was the third major attack against Shiite targets in as many days.

IRAQI forces have launched a new security operation against insurgents in the Baghdad area.

A series of car bombs targeted American and Iraqi troops in separate areas of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a day after security forces captured a would-be suicide bomber near the entrance to the heavily guarded Green Zone. Scattered mortar fire shook two north Baghdad districts.

THE bodies of at least 30 men, including 10 Iraqi soldiers, were found shot execution-style in three locations across Iraq yesterday.