Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone came under renewed attack today, less than 24 hours after anti-Western Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr told his forces to stand down following a week of clashes with government security forces.

Iraqi police said today clashes between Shiite militants and government security forces have resumed in at least two cities south of Baghdad.

Iraqi forces battled with Shiite militia today for control of the southern oil port of Basra.

Iraqi forces clashed with Shiite militias in the southern oil port of Basra today as a security plan to clamp down on violence between rival militia factions in the region began.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the reduction in attacks across Iraq and called for similar improvements in the political arena.

A women wearing a suicide vest blew herself up near a popular market and a Shiite mosque in restive Diyala province north of the capital Baghdad today, killing eight civilians and wounding seven others, police said.

HUNDREDS of people, including many children, chanted slogans praising Saddam Hussein as they tossed flowers on to his tomb one year after he was executed.

IRAQI security forces were on high alert yesterday around Baghdad and in the Sunni heartland north of the capital as the country marked the one-year anniversary of Saddam Hussein’s execution.

Britain’s weekend handover of Basra province will have a limited effect on security in Iraq’s biggest oil region because rival Shiite warlords and local officials have been wielding the real power in the area.

Iraq was handed control of security in the mainly Shiite province of Karbala today, the eighth of the nation's 18 provinces to come out of military rule.

A bomb exploded today in a predominantly Shiite area south-east of Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 13 others, police and hospital officials said.

US forces targeting militants believed to have kidnapped two coalition soldiers raided the main Shiite district in Baghdad today. At least 13 people were killed, including a woman and children, Iraqi officials said.

US forces targeting militants believed to have kidnapped two coalition soldiers raided the main Shiite district in Baghdad today. At least 13 people were killed, including a woman and children, Iraqi officials said.

A roadside bomb exploded near a minibus full of Shiite civilians today, killing at least three people and wounding nine as they went to visit relatives south of Baghdad, police said.

The rate of deaths of US forces in Iraq fell to its lowest for more than a year last month with a total of 63.

A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi police patrol today, killing one officer and wounding four others and a civilian, a police official said.

A roadside bomb rocked an eastern Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood this morning, killing at least 13 people and injuring 25 others when it exploded next to buses used by morning commuters, police and hospital officials said.

A roadside bomb rocked an eastern Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood early today, killing at least 11 people and injuring 19 others when it exploded next to buses used by morning commuters.

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered a six-month suspension of activities by his Mahdi Army militia in order to reorganise the force, an aide said today.

A roadside bomb killed the governor of Muthanna province in southern Iraq today, police said.

More than 50 gunmen dressed in Iraqi security forces uniforms broke into an oil ministry compound in Baghdad today and abducted a senior deputy of the oil minister and four other officials, a ministry spokesman and police said.

A joint US-Iraqi force backed with helicopter gunships clashed with suspected Shiite militiamen when they raided several homes in eastern Baghdad this morning, police said.

The British government today issued a new appeal for information about five Britons who were taken hostage in Iraq nearly two months ago.

US and Iraqi forces freed 42 Iraqis – some of whom had been held and tortured for months – in a raid on an al-Qaida prison in Iraq, the US military said.

British forces stepped up pressure on Shiite militants in the southern city of Basra, killing three in an overnight operation, the US and British military said today.

American forces raided radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s stronghold in Baghdad and killed five suspected militia fighters in air strikes today, a day after he resurfaced to end nearly four months in hiding and demand US troops leave Iraq, .

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months today, delivering a fiery anti-American sermon to thousands of followers and demanding US troops leave Iraq.

A majority of Iraqi politicians have signed draft legislation that calls for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq.

A suicide car bomber flattened a restaurant in a busy market in the Shiite holy city of Kufa this morning, killing at least 16 people and wounding 70 in an attack sure to further enflame tensions between Iraq’s Sunni and Shiite populations.

A top Iraqi insurgent leader today claimed in an audiotape posted online that his al-Qaida-linked group had begun manufacturing its own rockets.

CABINET ministers loyal to the radical Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned yesterday to protest the prime minister’s refusal to set a timetable for an American withdrawal.

Iraqi forces backed by American soldiers swept into a troubled, predominantly Shiite city south of Baghdad before dawn today, and the US military said as many as six militia fighters had been killed.

Key US and Iraqi officials today issued cautiously optimistic reports one month into the latest drive to curb sectarian bloodshed in Baghdad but warned that months would pass before the operation could be labelled a success.

US and Iraqi forces staged raids in Baghdad’s main Shiite militant stronghold today as part of politically-sensitive forays into areas loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

At least 11 people were killed in Iraq today when a suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

Militants struck back in their first major blow against a US-led security clampdown in Baghdad with car bombings that killed at least 63 people and left scores injured.

The chief US military spokesman in Iraq today insisted that Muqtada al-Sadr has left the country and is believed to be in Iran, despite denials from the radical Shiite cleric’s supporters.

Iraqi forces today detained a senior Health Ministry official accused of corruption and helping to funnel millions of pounds to Shiite militiamen blamed for much of the recent sectarian violence in the capital, the US military said.

Eight people were killed in two car bombings today after a weekend of attacks left more than 130 people dead.

US and Iraqi forces arrested one of Muqtada al-Sadr’s top aides today in Baghdad, his office said, as pressure increases on the radical Shiite cleric’s militia ahead of a planned security sweep aimed at stemming the sectarian violence ransacking the capital.

Apparently seeking to calm fears that he will not go after militia gunmen loyal to one of his key political backers, Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki said 400 fighters from the Mahdi Army had been arrested over the past several weeks.

An adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki today said the person who made the leaked video of Saddam Hussein’s hanging had been detained.

Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has reportedly agreed to allow supporters to rejoin the Iraqi government after a three-week boycott.

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