The brother of the Iraqi vice-president was today shot dead at his home in Baghdad, a government spokesman said. General Amir al-Hashimi, an adviser to Iraq's defence ministry, was the third member of the Sunni Arab politician's family to have been murdered in the past year. He was killed at his home in the north of the capital by gunmen wearing military uniforms, the spokesman said. Another of the vice-president's brothers and his sister have also been killed in recent months. Insurgents in Iraq regularly target the relatives of prominent politicians.

Elsewhere in the country, military officials were today investigating the apparent mass poisoning of at least 350 policemen at a base in Numaniya, to the south of Baghdad. The officers fell ill, some of them seriously, after eating a meal to break yesterday's Ramadan fast. One report said some of the men began bleeding from the ears and nose. Last night, an official at the Iraqi environment ministry said 11 policemen had died. The defence ministry said today that only four victims had been taken to hospital and that nobody had died. However, a report carried by the AFP news agency said three prople had been killed.

Brigadier Qassim al-Moussawi, a defence ministry spokesman, said the military was investigating whether the incident had been deliberate or accidental food poisoning.

Officials said food and water at the base were supplied by an Australian contractor working through Iraqi subcontractors. "A number of people have been arrested, including the man in charge of the mess hall," Brigadier Moussawi said.

Sunni insurgents fighting the police and military have not previously been known to use poison as a weapon. The policemen affected are in the fourth division of the national police, whose officers are mainly Shia.