Baghdad, Tehran pledge cooperation

An Australian negotiator, meanwhile, raised hopes that hostage Douglas Wood, 63, may soon be freed, saying he has received a phone call from an unidentified man claiming to represent Wood's captors.

The Australian contractor could be freed within 24 hours, Sheikh Taj Eldin Al-Hilali, who flew to Iraq to try to negotiate the contractor's release, told Australian radio.

The sheikh also handed over vital medication for Wood, a spokesman for Sydney's Muslim community said.

"The strongest bit of news that we have at the moment is that the medication has changed hands, the mufti (Al-Hilali) has given this medication to be taken to Mr Wood and this is a very good sign," Keysar Trad said.

Assailants in Baghdad gunned down Ibrahim Hamas, a brigadier general at the interior ministry, as he left his home around 9:00 am (0500 GMT), an interior ministry official said.

His wife was also injured in the attack in Zafraniya in southern Baghdad.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi was to meet Wednesday with Hajem Hassani, Iraq's Sunni parliamentary speaker, on the second day of his visit, the first since the downfall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Tuesday he had no doubt that Kharazi's visit "will open up significant new horizons for cooperation between the two countries.

"Post-Saddam Iraq is a new Iraq, at peace with its neighbours, far removed from its bellicose predecessor," he said.

Kharazi assured his counterpart that the clerical Shiite regime in Iran would not interfere in its neighbour's affairs.

"It is in Iran's interest to support by all possible means the Iraqi government. It is not in the interest of any of Iraq's neighbours to see the current situation continue because it would have negative consequences on the entire region," he said. Kharazi's visit, just two days after that of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, highlights the warming of ties between the two neighbours who were at war from 1980-1988.