Iraqi minister's brother set free

The brother of Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr has been freed by the gunmen who kidnapped him.

He was abducted on Saturday by armed men in the Sadr City district of the capital Baghdad.

Interior ministry officials said he was freed with the help of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Meanwhile, police say the director-general of the ministry of public works, Safaa Muhammed, has been shot dead in Baghdad.

Officers reported that he was gunned down in the western Mansour district.

Criminal gangs and insurgents have increasingly targeted government officials in Iraq's interim government in recent months.