Unidentified assailants shot a senior intelligence official dead in his car today and police discovered the bullet riddled bodies of three men, a day after gunmen beheaded five people.

Police in Iraq today discovered the bodies of two men, shot in the head and chest, a day after gunmen beheaded four policemen and a lawyer.

A suicide car bomber today attacked a joint Iraqi police and army checkpoint in northeastern Baghdad, killing three officers who had been inspecting vehicles, police said.