SADDAM HUSSEIN'S notorious henchman Ali Hassan al-Majid dubbed "Chemical Ali" has been captured in Iraq.

A US soldier, an eight-year-old Iraqi child, and a pro-American mayor and his son were killed yesterday as pro-Saddam Hussein insurgents unleashed a string of violent attacks on the eve of a recently banned Ba'ath Party holiday.

IRAQI military and security organisations that supported Saddam Hussein's regime have been officially dissolved and a new defence force "representative of all Iraqis" will be set up to replace them, the US civil administrator announced yesterday.

IRAQI civilian prisoners of war have claimed they were tortured by British and US troops after being captured, Amnesty International said yesterday.

HEAVILY-ARMED US Army forces stormed into a village near the northern city of Tikrit before dawn yesterday, seizing more than 260 prisoners, including one man on the most-wanted list of former Iraqi officials.

SADDAM HUSSEIN and his family took about one billion dollars from Iraq’s central bank shortly before the United States began bombing Baghdad, US government officials confirmed yesterday.

COALITION forces have captured one of Iraq’s top biological weapons scientists dubbed “Chemical Sally”.

THEY have become the ace in the pack for military memorabilia collectors the world over.

US President George W Bush yesterday said Syria is "beginning to get the message" on co-operating with the United States to capture fleeing Iraqi leaders.

TAKING the law into their own hands, Baghdad residents blockaded streets and beat up looters yesterday as disorder spread in the Iraqi capital.

THE Ba’ath Party ruled Iraq well before Iraqi President Saddam Hussein seized full control and it is likely to haunt Iraqi politics long after he disappears.

SADDAM HUSSEIN handsomely rewarded the army officer who targeted US forces in a suicide bombing, honouring him with a posthumous promotion, two new medals and a huge financial windfall for his family.

AROUND 2,000 civilians were shot at by Iraqi paramilitary forces as they tried to flee the southern city of Basra, British army officers claimed yesterday.

DESPERATE families were scooping up puddles from the war-torn streets of Basra yesterday as a chronic water shortage worsened their plight.

THE key city of Basra is no stranger to scenes of civilian uprising against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein – or the bloody aftermath following the withdrawal of western allies.

DRIVING night and day, more than 70 American tanks and 60 armoured troop carriers raced 700 miles across rough desert terrain, a bold flanking movement that placed US forces less than a day's march from Baghdad yesterday.

UNOFFICIAL political activity in Iraq is grounds for execution, and lopping off tongues is still in practice, according to a damning report released yesterday on rights abuses under the rule of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Iraq has attacked the UK for its close partnership with the US in the attacks on the Taliban.