Iraq

17 die in Iraq attacks as US exit nears

Seventeen people have been killed in two separate attacks in a province of north-eastern Iraq which was once an al Qaida stronghold, officials said today.

The marketplace car bombing and the assault on the home of an anti-al Qaida militia leader came on the third day of a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden, in advance of the withdrawal of American troops at the end of the year.

Mr Biden's trip is designed to chart a new relationship between the two countries ahead of withdrawal. Iraqi security officials maintain that they are fully prepared - one of the conditions of the 2008 security pact between the US and Iraq.

About 13,000 US troops are still in the country, down from a one-time high of about 170,000. All of those troops will be out of the country by the end of December.