Mark Sage, New York

A roadside bomb killed seven US soldiers in north-west Baghdad and two Marines were killed in western Iraq, the deadliest day for American forces since a suicide attack on a US base last month.

Iraq will bring top figures of Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime to court next week for the first time since they appeared before a judge five months ago, and formal indictments could be issued next month.

Insurgents renewed attacks on United States troops and Iraq’s security forces today, killing five police officers, including a general, and wounding 14 American soldiers in continuing attempts to derail the coming elections.

Iraqi Insurgents used the volatile city of Ramadi’s main hospital to ambush US soldiers, the military said today, firing rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire at troops but inflicting no American casualties.

Leading Iraqi politicians have called for a six-month delay in the January 30 election because of the spiralling violence as US forces uncovered more bodies in the northern city of Mosul, apparent victims of an intimidation campaign by insurgents against Iraq’s fledgling security forces.

Two Marines were killed and three others wounded when they came under fire during house-clearing operations in Fallujah, the US military said today.

US troops sweeping through Fallujah found what appeared to be a command centre used by followers of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as a general declared the battle for the city had “broken the back of the insurgency”.

An American Marine and an Iraqi soldier died in Fallujah today when they came under fire from rebel gunmen hiding in a house.

An American Marine is under investigation after being videotaped fatally shooting of a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a Fallujah mosque.

The US military today said an investigation was underway into an allegation that a Marine shot a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

US soldiers battled insurgents northeast of Baghdad today in clashes that killed more than 50 people.

Insurgents stormed two police stations today in the strife-ridden city of Mosul, killing at least six Iraqi troops

A US general said today that 31 American troops and six Iraqi soldiers have been killed so far in the battle to retake the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

US FORCES last night claimed to have cornered insurgents in a small section of Fallujah after a stunningly swift advance that seized control of 70% of the militant stronghold.

US forces launched airstrikes against suspected militant bases in Fallujah and carried out probing attacks on the city’s outskirts, as they prepared for a major operation in the insurgent bastion that has become the symbol of Iraqi resistance.

US forces are poised for a major assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, a general said today, as hundreds of British troops reached a base near Baghdad to free American forces to join the onslaught.

Four US Marines were killed in three separate incidents west of Baghdad, the US military said today.

Explosions and gunfire shook Najaf’s Old City in a fierce battle between US forces and Shiite militants, who remained in control of a revered shrine here as negotiations dragged on for its handover to religious authorities.

Sporadic gunfire and explosions boomed through Najaf today despite a peace deal in which radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed to disarm his militiamen and pull them out of a revered Shiite shrine where they have taken refuge.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accepted a peace plan yesterday to end the fighting in Najaf that would disarm his militia and remove them from their hideout in a holy shrine.

Iraqi delegates delivered a peace proposal to aides of Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf, but the militant cleric refused to meet with them as explosions, gunfire and a US air strike on the sprawling cemetery echoed across the holy city.

A roadside bomb was detonated in the Iraqi capital Baghdad today, killing a local police chief and another officer.

A US Marine died of wounds sustained yesterday during fighting west of Baghdad, the military announced today.

Four Marines have died while conducting security operations in Western Iraq, the US command said today.

Marine Wassef Hassoun, who has turned up safe after an apparent kidnapping in Iraq, is a US soldier with a deep affection for his native land Lebanon.

The disappearance of a US marine who was feared to have been kidnapped by extremists in Iraq could be a hoax.

THE Iraqi government issued a long-anticipated package of security laws yesterday to help crush insurgents, including a provision allowing interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to impose martial law.

Four US marines have been killed in western Iraq, the US military said in a statement today.

Fifteen members of one Iraqi family died when US forces dropped two tons of bombs on what they claimed was a militant safehouse in Fallujah.

US forces dropped two tons of bombs on what they claimed was a militant safehouse in Fallujah, killing at least 10 people.

A US Marine has been missing from his unit in Iraq for nearly a week but it is unclear whether the man has been taken hostage, the US command said today.

A US soldier was killed and three others were wounded in an attack on their vehicle south of Baghdad, the military said today.

American tanks and AC-130 gunships pounded militia positions early today near two shrines in the centre of the holy city of Karbala killing 18 fighters loyal to a rebel cleric.

A United States soldier assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was killed today as a result of “enemy action” in central Iraq, the US military said in Baghdad.

Four US marines were killed “as a result of enemy action” in Iraq’s western Anbar province, the military said in a statement in Baghdad today.

US forces closed off the turbulent city of Fallujah today ahead of a major operation against insurgents following the horrific murders of four American civilian security men last week.

Bombings and shootings across Iraq have left 18 people dead, including a US Marine and a cameraman killed in fierce fighting between American forces and guerrillas armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades in a town west of Baghdad.

Rebels in Iraq killed a US Marine west of Baghdad, the US military said today.

American military commanders did not impose curfews, halt looting or order Iraqis back to work after Saddam Hussein’s regime fell because US policymakers were reluctant to declare American troops an occupying force, according an internal Army review.

American troops were fighting Iraqi forces in the centre of Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit today, in what is expected to be the last battle of the war.

One of the seven US prisoners of war found safe and well said he was convinced his Iraqi captors were going to kill him.

IRAQI troops released seven captured US soldiers - some wounded but in good condition - to US Marines yesterday, a surprise discovery near where troops were entering Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit.

The final stronghold of Saddam Hussein’s regime appeared tonight to be on the verge of falling to allied forces.