Baghdad  - A woman suicide bomber who was wearing an explosive belt blew up herself Thursday when high-ranking members of the Awakening Councils were passing by in the northern city of Baquba, according to witnesses.

They told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa the blast killed three people including a leading Awakening Councils member identified as al-Hag Naeem, and two of his assistants. At least 10 more people were wounded.

The Awakening Councils are US-backed tribal police units formed to fight al-Qaeda militants in Iraq.

Baghdad - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed the ban on Iraq sending a team to next month's Olympic Games in Beijing, it emerged Thursday.

Seven athletes had hoped to compete in China but the IOC confirmed the ban it imposed last month in a letter dated July 23 and addressed to the Iraqi Minister of Youth and Sports Jassim Mohammed Jaffer and the acting secretary general of the Iraqi cabinet, Ali Mohsin Ismail.

Baghdad  - The US embassy in Baghdad announced Thursday it would grant 5,000 immigrant visas each year for the next five years to all Iraqis working for the US government in Iraq.

The move comes under a special immigrant visa programme authorized by the a US legislation in June, the embassy said in a statement.

Applicants should have "experienced or be experiencing an ongoing serious threat as a result of US government employment," the statement said.

Baghdad - Three key terror suspects allegedly affiliated to the al-Qaeda in Iraq group have turned themselves in to Iraqi and coalition forces, the US military said Thursday.

A leader of the Islamic State in Iraq, also known as al-Qaeda in Iraq, in the western Sinjar area surrendered to Iraqi troops on July 5, the US military said in a statement.

The suspect was allegedly involved in facilitating the work of foreign fighters in Iraq and leading a terrorist cell specialized in making explosive devices.

Baghdad- Iraq's Presidency Council announced Thursday that it has officially rejected a key provincial election legislative bill which aims at shifting more powers to Iraq's under-represented political and sectarian groups.

Parliament had passed the bill on Tuesday amid strong objections with lawmakers from a Kurdish and Shiite blocs walking out.

Kurds objected to a secret ballot on a provision in the bill over the disputed city of Kirkuk, which they are seeking to integrate into Iraq's Kurdish Autonomous Region.

Baghdad - At least