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

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.

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 today as hundreds of Iraqis gathered to celebrate a Muslim holiday.

Two suicide bombers struck at the offices of two rival Kurdish parties in near simultaneous attacks today as hundreds of Iraqis gathered to celebrate a Muslim holiday. At least 57 people were killed and more than 235 were wounded, officials said.

Two suicide bombers have killed around 10 people outside the offices of a Kurdish political party in northern Iraq.

IRAQ’S US-installed interim government established a special tribunal yesterday to deal with crimes against humanity committed by Saddam

An explosion in front of the offices of a Kurdish political party in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, killed four people, an official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said.

The retired American general given the huge task of reconstructing post-war Iraq today visited the country’s northern Kurdish region.

US forces were focusing their attention on Saddam Hussein’s ancestral power base of Tikrit yesterday, after adding the northern Iraqi city of Mosul to a string of rapid-fire battlefield victories.

Turkey’s top military and political leaders today met to discuss Kurdish moves in two key cities in northern Iraq.

ABBAS ALI was jubilant when the northern Iraq frontlines moved.

Iraqi opposition groups tonight called for a popular uprising to liberate the country from “dictatorship” and outlined a detailed plan for the future of Iraq.

US-LED forces carried out massive air strikes around Iraq’s northern oil capital of Kirkuk last night, as pro-US Kurdish forces here signalled a new front against Saddam Hussein could soon be opened.

The Iraqi National Congress (INC): Founded in 1992 as an umbrella group for other exiled opposition groups, the INC has since faced claims it acts unilaterally as its own party.

Iraq's government is cleansing a northern Iraqi province of all but Arab residents, an opposition group claims.