Troops were in place, the borders were closed and the ballots were ready today on the eve of Iraqi parliamentary elections that the US hopes will build democracy and set the stage for American troops to begin returning home.

FOUR US Army soldiers died in a roadside bombing, gunmen killed a Sunni Arab candidate for parliament, and militants tried to blow up a leading Shi’ite politician in separate attacks yesterday.

THE Iraqi Government announced yesterday it will close all borders, extend curfew hours and ban travel across provincial borders as part of stringent security measures to protect voters during this week’s parliamentary elections.

Kidnappers holding four Westerners made no contact with Iraqi authorities today, the day which they had set as a deadline to kill the humanitarian activists unless US and Iraqi authorities release all prisoners they hold in Iraq, the interior ministry said.

A STATEMENT signed by an Iraqi insurgent group said yesterday in an internet posting that it had killed a kidnapped US security consultant.

An Iraqi insurgent group said today in an internet posting that it killed a kidnapped US security consultant. The claim’s authenticity could not be immediately verified.

TWO men strapped with explosives detonated them at Baghdad’s police academy today, killing at least 43 people and wounding 73 more, officials said, while al-Jazeera broadcast an insurgent video of a man purported to be a US security consultant.

Insurgents today killed 19 Iraqi soldiers and wounded four others in a co-ordinated ambush northeast of Baghdad just two days after the deadliest attack against United States Marines in four months.

US forces along the Euphrates River attacked the insurgent stronghold of Haditha early yesterday, capturing a militant with ties to al-Qaida in Iraq and killing four others, the military said.

A CAR bomb exploded during prayers at a Shi’ite mosque in Baghdad yesterday, killing eight people and wounding 20, police said.

Three militant groups warned Iraqis against voting in the January 30 elections, saying that people participating in the “dirty farce” risked attack.

French journalists held hostage for four months in Iraq said their militant captors told them they wanted President George Bush to win re-election.

Two French journalists who were kidnapped by a radical Islamic group in Iraq four months ago were released today.

A militant group in Iraq has executed two Macedonian men accused of spying for the US, an Arab TV station reported today.

President Jacques Chirac said today that the French share the “emotion and pain” of Britons over the execution of Kenneth Bigley.

Indonesia has today welcomed the release of two of its nationals who had been held hostage in Iraq, and reiterated earlier warnings for all its citizens to immediately leave the war-torn country.

A militant group claimed to have killed two hostages in Iraq – one a Turk and the other an Iraqi who was a long-time resident in Italy, the Arab news network Al-Jazeera reported.

A militant group claiming to have kidnapped two Indonesian women says it will free them if their government releases a Muslim cleric accused of heading an al Qaida-linked group, the Arab news station Al-Jazeera reported today.

A convoy taking the two French hostages to freedom in Syria came under US fire, scuttling their release, a French MP involved in the negotiations said tonight.

Two French journalists being held hostage in Iraq could be free within hours, an unofficial mediator said today.

THREE bombs exploded at a neighbourhood celebration in western Baghdad yesterday, killing 35 children and seven adults, officials said.

French envoys are to hold crisis talks in Iraq and Jordan today in a desperate bid to free two journalists seized by militants seeking to overturn France’s law banning Islamic head scarves in public schools.

A £280,000 (€411,560) ransom payment today gained freedom for seven truck drivers held hostage in Iraq since July.

The French government headed into crisis talks today in a bid to save the lives of two journalists held hostage by Islamic militants in Iraq – but refusing to bow to the kidnappers’ demands to rescind a ban on Muslim head scarves in French schools.

Two French journalists being held hostage in Iraq called on French President Jacques Chirac to save their lives by giving in to militants’ demands to rescind a headscarf ban, according to a video shown on the Al-Jazeera television station.

ITALY reacted with horror yesterday at the killing of an Italian journalist in Iraq, but the Italian government insisted it would stay the course in the war-torn Middle Eastern country.

Italy reacted with horror today at the killing of an Italian journalist in Iraq, while the Italian government insisted it would stay the course in the war-torn Middle Eastern country.

Italy’s foreign minister appeared on the Al-Jazeera satellite television to appeal for the release of an Italian journalist held hostage in Iraq.

REBEL forces inside the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf were warned yesterday they have “hours to surrender” or face attack from US and Iraqi forces.

Italy’s government insisted Tuesday it will keep its troops in Iraq despite a demand by militants holding an Italian journalist hostage that Italian forces pull out within 48 hours.

Protected by about 100 guards, Iraq’s interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has visited the war-shattered city of Najaf, calling on Shiite militants to lay down their weapons after days of fierce clashes with US forces.

Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf and the nation’s prime minister today condemned the murder of two Pakistanis kidnapped in Iraq.

A BAGHDAD mortar barrage killed an Iraqi and injured 14 coalition soldiers yesterday, while a senior Egyptian diplomat returned to work a day after being released by militants.

The Egyptian diplomat freed from kidnappers in Iraq returned to work in Baghdad today and said he was treated well by the terror group.

Kidnappers released a senior Egyptian diplomat they had seized outside a mosque as two other militant groups threatened to kill four new foreign hostages amid an increasingly audacious wave of kidnappings in Iraq.

A SUICIDE car bomber struck near a US base in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and assassins gunned down a senior Interior Ministry official in spiralling violence that left eight people dead yesterday.

An Iraqi militant group says it has taken hostage two Pakistanis and an Iraqi driver employed by US forces, a video released by Al-Jazeera TV said.

A FILIPINO held hostage in Iraq told his family in a videotaped message aired yesterday he would be home soon, but the militants holding him said he would be freed only after Manila withdrew its troops from Iraq.

Bluntly contradicting the Bush administration, the commission investigating the September 11 attacks reported today there was “no credible evidence” that Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaida target the United States.

At least six Islamic militants were killed and 11 captured when Yemeni troops attacked the group’s mountain hide-out, the government said, ending days of negotiations with the guerrillas who were blamed for wounding seven soldiers last weekend.

Taliban forces appeared to be fleeing Kabul tonight as the opposition Northern Alliance said their troops had pushed to the gates of the Afghan capital.