Saddam Hussein’s former deputy has vowed that loyalists to the deposed dictator will continue fighting until the US withdraws from Iraq, according to an interview published today.

Two bombs aimed at police patrols exploded today in Baghdad as a series of attacks killed at least 24 people nationwide, while insurgent groups offered condolences for the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and warned they would continue his campaign of violence.

The Bush administration has a deliberate strategy of abusing terror suspects during interrogations, Human Rights Watch said today in its annual report on the treatment of prisoners.

IRAQI prime minister Iyad Allawi urged the country to unite after an election lauded by world leaders as a historic breakthrough that must not be undermined by sectarian conflict.

A MORTAR and rocket attack on a US military dining hall killed 24 people and wounded more than 60 in Iraq's northern city of Mosul yesterday in one of the deadliest attacks on American forces since the war began.