Fifteen people were killed and 27 wounded when a suicide truck bomber struck a car park in a mainly Shiite area of Baghdad today, police and hospital officials said.

At least nine people were killed and 19 wounded when a suicide truck bomber struck a car park in a mainly Shiite area of Baghdad today, police and hospital officials said.

Gunmen opened fire today on a car carrying at least one US national outside a compound in the Saudi capital of Riyadh that is used by members of the US military, a security official said.

Backed by tanks and helicopters, US soldiers fought fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr early today in the southern holy city of Karbala, witnesses said. Much of the fighting took place near a prominent mosque.