A suicide bomber attacked a meeting today of pro-government Sunni sheikhs west of Baghdad, killing at least 23 people, including three US Marines.

A suicide truck bomb crashed into a Baghdad police headquarters today, killing seven and wounding at least double that many in a deadly 24 hours that saw more than 45 killings in Iraq, including two American soldiers, authorities said.

IRAQ’S deputy president Rowsch Shways said talks on a new government between the main Shi’ite alliance and Kurds would continue after parliament meets for the first time on Wednesday.

US troops arrested the wife and daughter of a top Saddam Hussein deputy suspected of masterminding attacks on US troops, and a major pipeline linking northern Iraqi oilfields to the country’s biggest refinery was ablaze today.

A major pipeline linking oilfields in northern Iraq to the country’s biggest refinery was ablaze today, witnesses said.