Baghdad governor shot dead in ambush

GUNMEN killed Baghdad's governor in Iraq's highest-profile assassination in eight months yesterday.

Elsewhere in the country, a suicide bomber killed 11 people at a police checkpoint in an escalating campaign to wreck the January 30 election.

The shooting of Governor Ali al-Haidri in a roadside ambush showed insurgents' power to strike at the heart of the governing class, raising fresh doubts as to whether security forces can protect politicians and voters as the ballot draws near.