A correspondent for The Washington Post has been shot and killed while on an assignment in Baghdad, the newspaper says.

Two Iraqi suicide car bombers trying to murder a local police chief and a US-supporting Sunni leader killed at least 18 people today.

Gunmen killed 23 members of an ancient religious sect in northern Iraq after stopping their bus and separating followers of other faiths, as car bombings in the capital killed at least another 20 people.

A car bomb and a suicide attacker killed at least 11 people in Baghdad today as militants showed increasing defiance to a major security operation in the Iraqi capital.

At least five people were killed and 14 wounded today when a car bomb exploded near a vegetable market in south-west Baghdad.

A rubbish collector and the head of security for Baghdad University were killed in separate drive-by shootings today as a string of attacks left at least seven people dead in the Iraqi capital.

Masked gunmen stopped two minivans carrying students north of Baghdad, ordered the passengers off, separated Shiites from Sunni Arabs, and killed the 21 Shiites “in the name of Islam", a witness said.

Roadside bombs and a drive-by shooting killed four Iraqis and wounded 24 in Baghdad today as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's new national unity government held its first meeting to discuss issues such as improving Iraq's security.