Iraqi vice-president's brother killed in Baghdad home

The brother of Iraq’s Sunni Arab vice president was killed early today in his Baghdad home, a government spokesman said.

Gen. Amir al-Hashimi, brother of Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi and an adviser in the Defence Ministry, was killed by unidentified gunmen wearing military uniforms in his home in north Baghdad, said Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi.

Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber slammed into an Iraqi police checkpoint in Tal Afar, 260 miles north-west of Baghdad, killing one policeman and wounding 12, police Brig. Najim Abdullah said.

The city was already the scene of a devastating attack on Saturday when a suicide car bomber hit another checkpoint, killing 14 and injuring many more.

Sectarian death squads have killed thousands in recent months, primarily in Baghdad, and US and Iraqi troops have been carrying out an intensified sweep of the capital to try and root out the insurgents and militias.

At the same time, shootings, bombings and other attacks has been swelling in northern areas, though the bloodshed has not been on the scale seen in Baghdad.