London/Baghdad - British forces will leave Iraq by mid-2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on a surprise visit to Baghdad Wednesday.

He confirmed that the withdrawal would begin in the spring and that the bulk of the 4,000 British troops would have "completed their tasks" in the first half of 2009.

The announcement came in a joint statement released during Brown's talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

They said: "The role played by the UK combat forces is drawing to a close. These forces will have completed their tasks in the first half of 2009 and will then leave Iraq."

Baghdad - On December 11 a lone male parked his car outside the Abdullah Restaurant, on the outskirts of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Inside, among dozens of families celebrating the Eid al-Adha feast, local Arab and Kurdish politicians were reportedly meeting to discuss how the city might acceptably divide up its massive oil wealth.

The man entered the building and blew himself up.

At least 45 people died in the blast, and more than 100 were injured. Local politicians quickly blamed al-Qaeda for the attack.

Baghdad - The family of Iraqi TV journalist Montasser al- Zaidi, who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush, is fearful that he is now being mistreated by police, al-Zaidi's brother told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Tuesday.

"We don't know where he is," Oudai al-Zaidi told dpa by telephone. "We fear that he might be mistreated after seeing footage of the guards taking him on TV."

Oudai also turned down an invitation by the Venezuelan President to come and live in the Latin country.

"We are grateful to President Hugo Chavez. However we are Iraqis, we live in Iraq," Oudai said speaking on the behalf of his family.

Baghdad - A suicide car bomber killed sic people and wounded eight when he blew up himself and his vehicle beside an army patrol in Iraq's Diyala province Tuesday, a security source said.

The attack was in al-Saadiya district in Baquba, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad. Four out of the six dead were soldiers, the source said.

Also in al-Saadiya, a bomb ripped through a police patrol killing a policeman and a civilian and injuring eight people including three policemen, a police source told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Baghdad, Dec. 16 : The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush has a broken arm and ribs after being struck by Iraqi security agents, his brother told reporters on Tuesday.

Durgham Zaidi was unable to say whether his brother Muntazer had sustained the injuries while being overpowered during Sunday''s protest against Bush''s visit or while in custody later.

Baghdad, Dec. 16 : The Iraqi television journalist who hurled his shoes at visiting US President George W. Bush in Baghdad on Sunday, is being feted around the Arab world for having the courage to showcase the rage in the region over a war that is still regarded as unpopular.

President Bush, on a surprise trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, got a taste of dissent at a Baghdad press event Sunday when an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at him, forcing him to duck.