A US Apache attack helicopter crashed yesterday north of Baghdad, killing both pilots as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it may take as long as 12 years to defeat the insurgents.

Iraqi police battled with and killed two gunmen in the oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk early today, a day after a suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded nearly 100 after striking outside a bank as elderly people waited to cash their pension cheques.

FORMER Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein faces a range of charges from gassing thousands of Kurds to executing political and religious leaders, a list of the cases against him showed yesterday.

Former Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein faces a range of charges from gassing thousands of Kurds to executing political and religious leaders, a list of the cases against him showed today.

Hundreds of US and Iraqi forces today launched their biggest Baghdad raid in recent weeks, moving on foot through a central neighbourhood and rounding up dozens of suspected insurgents, the military said.

Demanding answers and disputing Washington’s version of events, Italy’s premier said an Italian intelligence agent who was shot to death by US troops in Baghdad had informed the proper authorities he was heading to the airport with a freed hostage.

American troops fired on a car rushing Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to freedom after a month in captivity, killing an Italian intelligence officer who helped negotiate her release and wounding the reporter in another friendly-fire tragedy at a US checkpoint in Baghdad.

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.

A grenade attack killed three US soldiers and wounded four as they guarded a children’s hospital northeast of Baghdad.

THE drumbeat follows its own grim rhythm: three US soldiers killed in Iraq last week, two more shot this week.

The US army has extended the deployment of thousands of soldiers in Iraq because of the increased attacks on coalition forces, dashing hopes the troops would be home by September.

A US soldier was killed and four wounded in fighting in Iraq, the military said today.

A SNIPER killed a US soldier on patrol in Baghdad with a single shot, while gunmen targeted Iraqi officials in drive-by shootings designed to put them off co-operating with Americans, the military said yesterday.

US SOLDIERS backed by helicopters and tanks raided homes, rounded up suspects and confiscated weapons in the restive town of Fallujah yesterday, part of a nationwide campaign to root out anti-American insurgents who’ve been stepping up attacks.

US soldiers backed by helicopters and tanks raided homes, rounded up suspects and confiscated weapons in the town of Fallujah today – part of a nationwide campaign to root out suspected militia leaders.

US Army units moved in force to seal off the conservative town of Fallujah west of Baghdad early today, intending to raid the homes of suspected militia leaders and search for illegal weapons in a major, co-ordinated operation.

An American soldier was killed and four companions wounded today in an attack near Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, a military statement said.

Saddam Hussein’s 66th birthday arrived today with none of the elaborate fanfare of past years but with rumours the deposed dictator was still alive - and was planning something dastardly to mark the occasion.

Iraqi civilians have torn up and spat at portraits of Saddam Hussein in multiple acts against the Saddam regime in Baghdad today.

From palace ashtrays and pillows to jeeps and a grand piano, the spoils of war are disappearing fast in Iraq.

United States tanks and armoured vehicles made a bold incursion into Baghdad and swept through southern suburbs of the Iraqi capital, neutralising intermittent resistance by President Saddam Hussein’s loyalists.

United States ground forces made a bold daytime raid into the Iraqi capital today as other coalition troops moved in from the south to test the strength of President Saddam Hussein’s defenders, who are believed to have fallen back for an urban battle, officials said.

Substantial numbers of coalition troops were near the centre of Baghdad today and had no plans to pull back, a US Central Command spokesman said.

US Army tanks rumbled into Baghdad early today for the first time while columns of armoured vehicles began encircling the city.

TWO US soldiers were killed as American forces secured Baghdad airport yesterday, a crucial step in their bid to establish a base of operations for coalition forces just outside the Iraqi capital.

US troops found thousands of boxes of suspicious white powder, nerve agent antidote and Arabic documents on how to engage in chemical warfare south of Baghdad.

THE Washington Post said yesterday its editorial columnist Michael Kelly was killed in an accident involving a Humvee vehicle while travelling with US troops in Iraq.

American troops today found thousands of boxes of white powder at an industrial site south of Baghdad, but initial tests showed it was probably just explosives.

American forces secured Baghdad airport today, a crucial step in their bid to establish a base of operations for coalition forces just outside the Iraqi capital.

US troops today claimed to have found thousands of boxes of white powder, nerve agent antidote and Arabic documents on how to wage chemical warfare at an industrial site south of Baghdad.

American troops moved to capture Baghdad’s Saddam International Airport as the Iraqi capital came under renewed bombing. Coalition forces occupied around 75% of the sprawling site and initial reports said they met little opposition from Iraqi forces.

US forces occupied part of Baghdad’s airport before dawn today, putting them nine miles from the capital after a fierce battle with Iraqi fighters.

By Ellen Knickmeyer and Chris Tomlinson US TROOPS seized Baghdad’s international airport last night after pushing through the outskirts of the darkened capital.

US troops have tonight captured Baghdad’s Saddam Hussein international airport with tanks and armoured units, the US ABC television network reported.

Some of Iraq’s best conventional forces have been routed by Allied bombing and ground fighting, but more lie between the advancing American troops and Baghdad, US military officials warned today.

Some Iraqi Republican Guard units moved south from Baghdad toward US forces that are approaching the capital, Pentagon officials said today.

US FORCES, using fearsome air power, smashed through elite Iraqi divisions to within 20 miles of Baghdad last night in the swiftest advance of the war to date.

Advancing on Baghdad from both the south-west and the south-east, US troops battled Republican Guard units today and some reports put them within 20 miles of the Iraqi capital.

US-LED troops fought pitched battles with Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard within 50 miles of the capital yesterday as coalition warplanes pounded the city and dozens of other Iraqi positions in advance of the battle for Baghdad.

Baghdad was under renewed heavy bombardment tonight as US troops engaged in fierce battles with Saddam Hussein’s elite Republican Guards protecting the approaches to the Iraqi capital.

Fierce bombardment of Baghdad saw a series of major explosions reverberate through the city today, igniting an inferno in the Iraqi ministry of information.

SADDAM HUSSEIN launched his first major offensive out of Baghdad last night, dispatching his elite Republican Guards to confront American troops in central Iraq.

British forces were waiting for the order today to enter Basra in support of an apparent uprising by Iraqi civilians against Saddam Hussein’s militias.

Reports claim up to 750 Iraqi troops have been killed in battles with US forces near the Iraqi city of Najaf.