Five killed in Baghdad suicide car bomb

AT least five people were killed when a suicide car bomb struck central Baghdad as 44 people died in US air strikes near the insurgent bastion of Fallujah.

US-led local troops launched a crackdown yesterday on lawless zones in the capital, a day after the kidnapping of two Americans and a Briton in the heart of Baghdad that had increased fears among the jittery expatriate community.

The suicide bomber rammed an Iraqi police patrol passing through the al-Rashid commercial district and blew up his car, an interior ministry spokesman and police said.