Funeral processions began today for the people who were killed by car bombs and mortars in Baghdad’s largest Shiite district, the deadliest attack since the war began.

Funeral processions began today for the more than 160 people who were killed by car bombs and mortars in Baghdad’s largest Shiite district.

An Austrian security guard taken hostage with four Americans was killed and one of the American captives seriously wounded, Iraqi police said today.

The official start to Ramadan was punctuated with violent attacks around Iraq today, including an assault on a police station and the discovery of more apparent victims of sectarian death squads in the capital.

Hundreds of people demonstrated in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit today, demanding the return of the former Iraq dictator to power.

Masked gunmen stopped two minivans carrying students north of Baghdad, ordered the passengers off, separated Shiites from Sunni Arabs, and killed the 21 Shiites “in the name of Islam", a witness said.

Bombs and gunfire killed about 60 people as another daytime curfew failed to halt violence that has claimed nearly 200 lives since the destruction of a Shiite shrine set off a wave of retribution against Sunnis and pushed Iraq toward civil war.

A car bomb exploded in a Shiite holy city and 13 members of one Shiite family were gunned down north-east of the capital today in a surge of attacks that killed at least 30 people despite heightened security aimed at curbing sectarian violence following the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine.

Gunmen fired today on the funeral procession of a well known Al-Arabiya newswoman, who was killed while covering the bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine, sending mourners dashing for cover, police and army said.

Iraq has asked US authorities to release six of the eight Iraqi women in military custody, but not as part of a bid to free a kidnapped American female journalist, a government official said today.

A Black Hawk helicopter believed to be carrying 12 people crashed in northern Iraq and killed everyone aboard, while five US Marines were slain in separate weekend attacks, the military said today.

LARGE demonstrations broke out across Iraq yesterday to denounce parliamentary elections that protesters called rigged in favour of the main religious Shi’ite coalition.

Large demonstrations broke out across Iraq today to denounce parliamentary elections that protesters called rigged in favour of the main religious Shiite coalition.

Insurgents attacked several US bases and government offices with mortars and rockets today before dispersing in Ramadi, the capital of western Iraq’s Anbar province.

Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms burst into the home of a Sunni Arab sheikh today, killing him, three of his sons and a son-in-law in what police believe may have been aimed at discouraging Sunnis from participating in next month’s election.

AMERICAN soldiers mistakenly fired on a civilian vehicle outside an American base in a city north of Baghdad yesterday, killing three people, including a child, the military said.

IRAQ'S Shi'ite interior minister accused critics yesterday of exaggerating reports of torture at a lock-up seized by US troops last weekend.

Iraqi lawmakers approved a set of last-minute amendments to the constitution without a vote, sealing a compromise designed to win Sunni support and boost chances for the charter’s approval in a referendum set for Saturday.

Thousands of people in Baghdad and its surroundings today flocked to the funerals of nearly 1,000 Shiite pilgrims killed in a mass stampede during a religious procession.

Panic engulfed thousands of Shiites marching across a bridge in a religious procession today after rumours spread that a suicide bomber was about to attack, triggering a stampede that killed at least 695 people.

A SUICIDE car bomber, who targeted American soldiers as they gave sweets to children and detonated his vehicle, killed up to 27 other people yesterday.

Gunmen kidnapped and killed a university professor in southern Iraq and a physician in a central city in separate incidents, police said today.

IRAQ’S president publicly praised Shi’ite and Kurdish militias Wednesday in a statement that could further antagonise Sunni Arabs and fuel fears of sectarian strife.

A suicide car bomb exploded in central Baghdad today, killing at least six people and wounding nearly 30, including a number of American civilians.

Insurgents set off at least 17 bombs in Iraq, killing at least 50 people, including three US soldiers, in a series of attacks aimed at shaking Iraq’s newly formed government.

Iraqi security forces, backed by US military, swept into a town south of Baghdad at dawn today after reports Sunni militants had kidnapped as many as 100 Shiites.

Iraqi security forces backed by US troops had the town of Madain surrounded after reports Sunni militants kidnapped as many as 100 Shiite residents, but there were growing indications the incident had been grossly exaggerated, perhaps an outgrowth of a tribal dispute or political manoeuvring.

Marking the two-year anniversary since US troops took control of Baghdad and toppled Saddam Hussein’s statue, supporters of a militant Shiite cleric filled the capital’s streets today and demanded that their American invaders go home, shouting “No! No, to Satan!”

Gunmen fired on supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, killing one person and wounding two others as they made their way to protests planned for the second anniversary of Baghdad’s fall to US-led troops.

A car bomb exploded today in central Iraq, killing five people, including four police officers on patrol, while gunmen killed an education official in Baghdad.

Weeping relatives gathered in small groups to bury 50 people killed by a suicide bomber in the northern Iraq city Mosul, after cancelling a mass funeral procession for fear of another attack.

The purported kidnappers of an Italian journalist abducted in Iraq claimed they are still interrogating her and said it is giving Rome a final warning to withdraw its troops from the country, according to a statement posted on the Internet today.

Iraqis turned out to vote today in their country’s first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched deadly suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations. By midday, at least 36 people were dead but the violence had slowed and voting picked up.

Iraqis turned out to vote today in their country’s first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched deadly suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations.

A SHI’ITE official yesterday announced a 228-candidate coalition backed by leading Shi’ite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to contest Iraq’s January 30 elections.

Iraq’s most powerful Shiite groups today unveiled a unified list of 228 candidates for the January 30 elections, a key step in their bid to take a leading role in post-Saddam Iraq after years on the sidelines.

SOME 5,000 US and British troops with Iraqi commandos launched raids and arrested suspected insurgents yesterday in an offensive aimed at clearing a swathe of insurgent hotbeds south of Baghdad.

Masked gunmen today assassinated a Sunni cleric north of Baghdad, police said - the second such killing in as many days.

GUNMEN yesterday assassinated a member of an influential Sunni clerics’ group that has called for a boycott of national elections.

US warplanes pounded Fallujah today in what residents called the strongest attacks in months, as more than 10,000 American soldiers and Marines massed for an expected assault on the guerrilla stronghold.

Eight American Marines were killed in fighting west of Baghdad today, and a car bomb killed at least seven people in an attack on an Arab television station in the capital.

Muslim scholars in Baghdad tonight expressed doubts that two Italian women aid workers had been murdered.

British hostage Kenneth Bigley’s life was tonight in the blood-stained hands of a terrorist who has severed the heads of two other captives.

A headless corpse was found in Baghdad today hours after an al-Qaida-linked group boasted it had killed a second American hostage, leaving the Briton they are holding to face execution.