A suicide car bomb exploded near a revered shrine in the holy Shiite city of Karbala today, killing eight people and wounding 36, police said, in an apparent attempt by Sunni Arab insurgents to cause another spike in Iraq’s sectarian violence.

Iraq’s largest Sunni-Arab political party today condemned a car bomb attack inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone that apparently attempted to kill Iraq’s controversial speaker of parliament.

A day after Saddam Hussein was sentenced to hang, the Shiite-dominated government offered a major concession to his Sunni backers that could see thousands of members of the ousted dictator's Baath party reinstated in their jobs.

Iraqi militants killed 15 homebound police recruits and nine shoppers buying food for the feast to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

Iraqi militants today killed 15 homebound police recruits and nine shoppers buying food for the feast to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

Iraq's government indefinitely postponed a much-anticipated national reconciliation conference today as at least 83 people were reported dead in a two-day spree of sectarian revenge killings and insurgent bombings.

At least 20 people were killed and dozens more were wounded when snipers opened fire from rooftops and a cemetery in a series of attacks on a Shiite religious procession in Baghdad.

Gunmen stormed a bus station north-east of Baghdad on today, seizing some 24 Shiites after separating them from the crowd and killing them, authorities said.

A Shiite legislator escaped an assassination attempt today after a roadside bomb missed his convoy in downtown Baghdad, a day after the kidnapping of a Sunni legislator.

Gunmen kidnapped a Sunni female member of parliament in Baghdad today along with her guards, the parliament speaker’s office said.

A parked car bomb struck a popular outdoor market today in the Shiite slum of Sadr City in Baghdad, killing at least 66 people and wounding dozens, authorities said.

Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki said today that the formation of the Cabinet was “mostly complete,” but an influential Shiite group and some Sunni Arab politician signalled the deal was far from done.

SISTER of Iraq’s new Sunni Arab vice-president was killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad yesterday, a day after the politician called for the Sunni-dominated insurgency to be crushed by force.

Seven car bombs exploded across the Iraqi capital Baghdad today, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens, as politicians met to try to finalise a new Cabinet.

Six car bombs exploded in Baghdad today, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, as Iraqi politicians met to try to finalise a new Cabinet.

VIOLENCE in Iraq overshadowed a public holiday yesterday to mark the third anniversary of Baghdad’s fall to US forces.

AMERICAN reporter Jill Carroll, who was kidnapped three months ago in an ambush that killed her translator, was released from captivity yesterday and said she had not been harmed.

The feared resumption of mass sectarian violence erupted in a Baghdad Shiite slum when bombers blew apart two markets, killing at least 44 people and wounding about 200.

Sunnis and Shiites have traded bombings and mortar fire against mainly religious targets in Baghdad, killing at least 68 people after authorities lifted a curfew that had briefly calmed a series of sectarian reprisal attacks.

The body of an official with Iraq’s largest Sunni Muslim political group was found with signs of torture, his party said today.

A BOMB attack on one of Iraq's most revered Shi'ite shrines yesterday spawned mass protests and reprisal attacks against dozens of Sunni mosques.

MASKED gunmen assassinated a Sunni Arab cleric who had headed the city council in once-restive Fallujah yesterday.

Iraq’s electoral commission today ruled that more than 99% of the ballots from the December 15 elections were valid, opening the way for a new government to start coming together.

Sunni Arab and secular political groups joined forces today to decide whether to reject the results of last week’s parliamentary election and call for a revote.

Iraq’s main Sunni Arab political coalition today challenged preliminary results from last week’s parliamentary elections and warned that any attempt to falsify the outcome could further destabilise the country.

Iraq’s largest Sunni Muslim party today called for the release of Western hostages in Iraq, saying such kidnappings tarnished the image of Islam and had a negative effect on those who call for ending the United States military presence.

A SUICIDE car bomber attacked a hospital in central Iraq yesterday while US troops were handing out toys to children, killing 30 people, including four police guards, three women and two children, officials said.

SUICIDE bombers killed 74 worshippers at two mosques in eastern Iraq yesterday while in Baghdad two car bombs targeted a hotel housing foreign journalists and killed eight Iraqis.

IRAQ'S main Sunni Arab political party yesterday demanded an international investigation into allegations that security forces illegally detained and tortured suspected insurgents at secret jails in Baghdad.

Iraq’s prime minister disclosed today that more than 170 malnourished Iraqi detainees were found at an Interior Ministry detention centre and that some appeared to have been tortured.

RESIDENTS fled an Iraqi town on the Syrian border yesterday during a lull in fighting between 3,500 US and Iraqi troops and suspected al-Qaida insurgents armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

SUNNI insurgents determined to derail this weekend's constitutional referendum attacked the largest Sunni Arab political party yesterday, bombing and burning offices and the home of one of its leaders.

US and Iraqi forces stepped up security across Iraq today and prepared to impose an overnight curfew in an effort to reduce insurgent attacks aimed at wrecking this weekend’s constitutional referendum.

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.

Iraqi negotiators have reached a breakthrough deal on the constitution, and at least one Sunni Arab party said it would now urge its followers to approve the charter in this weekend’s referendum.

Last-minute negotiations to address Sunni Arab objections to Iraq’s draft constitution resumed today, with only four days left before the charter is put to a nationwide vote that will determine the course of the country’s transition to democratic rule.

US forces raided the homes of two officials from a prominent Sunni Arab organisation today, arresting bodyguards and confiscating weapons, Sunni officials said.

Thousands of Sunni demonstrators rallied in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit today to denounce Iraq’s new constitution a day after negotiators finished the new charter without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs.

Thousands of Sunni demonstrators rallied in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit on today to denounce Iraq’s new constitution – a day after negotiators finished the new charter without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs.

Masked gunmen have killed three Sunni Arabs in front of horrified witnesses outside a mosque in Mosul, after grabbing them as they hung posters urging fellow Sunnis to vote in a referendum on the new constitution.

Gunmen seized three members of Iraq’s largest Sunni Muslim party today and shot them dead hours later in front of a mosque in Mosul, an official of the party and witnesses said.

Iraqi politicians tried to reach compromises with Sunni Arab leaders today on the country’s draft constitution, one day after synchronised bombings near at a bus station and nearby hospital killed up to 43 people in the capital.

IRAQ’S parliament yesterday agreed a seven-day extension for leaders to complete a draft constitution, after politicians failed to reach Monday’s deadline.

AN Egyptian envoy expected to become Iraq’s first Arab ambassador since its new government took office was kidnapped in Baghdad, weeks after arriving in the country, diplomats said yesterday.