Iraqi president Jalal Talabani is expected to undergo a medical check-up during a three-week visit to the US.

Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms entered a village west of Baghdad early today, removed families from their homes and opened fire on the men, killing 15 of them, an Iraqi general and a Kurdish political party said.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is recovering well from his weekend collapse from exhaustion and a pulmonary inflammation, the Iraqi ambassador said in Jordan today.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani fell ill yesterday and was taken unconscious to a hospital before being flown to neighbouring Jordan for a medical check-up, medical and government officials said.

ACROSS Iraq, bombings and shootings killed at least 33 people yesterday.

Across Iraq, bombings and shootings killed at least 33 people today.

A Kurdish security officer testifying in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial in Baghdad, Iraq, today showed the court body burns he allegedly received when armies of the deposed leader attacked his northern Iraqi village in 1988.

A series of bombings and mortar attacks – including two suicide bombings in the northern city of Kirkuk, killed at least 27 people and wounded another 80 today.

A suicide truck bomb exploded in the city of Kirkuk today killing at least 12 people and wounding another 55, police said.

A bomb exploded today in a crowd of day labourers in central Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 28, police said.

Five people were killed today and 15 others were wounded when a suicide bomber exploded a truck rigged with a bomb outside the Iraqi president’s party headquarters.

A series of car bombs exploded in quick succession in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk today, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 20.

A series of car bombs exploded in quick succession in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk today, killing at least 15 people and wounding nearly 20.

A SUICIDE bomber killed 32 mourners and injured dozens at a funeral for the nephew of a Shi'ite politician in Iraq yesterday.

SUSANNE Osthoff, the German woman taken hostage in Iraq, was freed last night.

Gunmen killed two relatives of a senior Kurdish official and 14 others died in a string of bombings and shootings overnight and today, shattering three days of relative calm that followed the country’s first election for a full-term parliament.

IRAQ’S Kurdish president called on the country’s Shi’ite prime minister to step down, the spokesperson for the president’s party said Sunday, escalating a political split between the two factions that make up the government.

US forces launched airstrikes today in a town near the Syrian border in western Iraq, part of a three-day offensive against insurgents that has killed at least 36 militants since the fighting began, officials said.

US troops battled insurgents holed up in houses and driving explosives-laden vehicles in a second town near the Syrian border, killing 28 in an expansion of their two-day-old offensive chasing al Qaida fighters along the Euphrates River valley, the military said.

Iraq’s Environment Minister Narmin Othman escaped an assassination attempt when gunmen attacked her convoy north of Baghdad wounding three bodyguards, state-run Iraqiya Television reported today.

IRAQ’S insurgency appeared unfazed by two US-led military offensives, mounting separate attacks that killed at least 37 people, mostly security forces, and wounded scores of others yesterday.

TWO years after the invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime, politicians are continuing negotiations aimed at creating a democratic replacement amid a continuing backdrop of violence and inter-communal tensions.

Gunmen shot dead a police chief and two other people in a Baghdad drive-by shooting today.

THE contrast between Iraq’s Kurdish provinces and the insurgency-racked cities to the south is evident in the 100 or so labourers gathered at the main square of this Kurdish town, looking for work.

SIX police officers were killed and 15 wounded in car bomb attacks on Iraq’s security services, as political factions wrangled over putting together a government.

THE contest for Iraq's next prime minister narrowed yesterday after French-educated finance minister Adel Abdul Mahdi stood down from consideration within the Shi'ite alliance that won the most votes in the elections.

IRAQ’S main Shi’ite alliance, fresh from winning landmark elections, gathered yesterday to choose a candidate for prime minister and the allies it needs after failing to win an absolute majority.

A car bomb exploded today near the police headquarters in the mostly Kurdish city of Khanaqin on the Iranian border, a senior police official said.

Gunmen opened fire on the local headquarters of three political parties north of Baghdad today and killed an Iraqi policeman.

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.

Suicide attackers carried out a string of car bombings against Iraqi policemen in Baghdad and Kurdish militiamen in the north, killing 14 people and wounding at least 59 today in the latest major assaults on Iraqi security forces and U.S. allies in the country.

A suicide car bomber today exploded his vehicle alongside a bus carrying Kurdish peshmerga militiamen in Mosul, killing at least seven and injuring eight, a Kurdish official said.

LEADING Iraqi political parties called yesterday for elections scheduled for January 30 to be delayed because of Iraq’s widening violence.

American forces pushed deeper into the last remaining insurgent stronghold in Fallujah today, and the Iraqi government rushed massive reinforcements to Mosul in the north, where police lost control in the face of insurgent attacks.

The Philippine government was waiting for information today after making a direct appeal to the insurgents holding a Filipino hostage to spare his life.

Militants loyal to suspected al-Qaida terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have threatened to behead three Turkish hostages, fanning tensions as President Bush visited Turkey.

Militants loyal to suspected al-Qaida terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi threatened to behead three Turkish hostages, fanning tensions as President George W Bush visited Turkey.

Attackers killed the top security official for the state-run Northern Oil company today, in the latest of a string of assassinations on Iraqi leaders.

IRAQI politicians and a top Shi'ite cleric are due to sign the new Iraqi interim constitution charter today.

Iraqi politicians and a top Shiite cleric have successfully resolved their differences over the country’s interim constitution and will sign the charter tomorrow.

A UN team assessing the feasibility of early elections in Iraq met with local politicians yesterday, amid reports that a suspected al-Qaida operative proposed provoking sectarian conflict between Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims to disrupt the scheduled power transfer to Iraqis.

TWO suicide bombers struck the offices of two US-backed Kurdish parties in near-simultaneous attacks yesterday as hundreds of Iraqis gathered to celebrate a Muslim holiday.

Two suicide bombers struck the offices of two US-backed Kurdish parties in near-simultaneous attacks today as hundreds of Iraqis gathered to celebrate a Muslim holiday.