Egyptians marched against Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in cities across the country yesterday and a few hundred attacked the presidential palace with petrol bombs and rocks.

US troops in Iraq launched a massive crackdown on Saddam Hussein loyalists today as they hunted those blamed for a number of deadly attacks against American soldiers.

American military commanders were today asking themselves a troubling question after rumbling into the centre of Baghdad almost unopposed: where did Saddam Hussein’s feared Republican Guard go?

Substantial numbers of coalition troops were near the centre of Baghdad today and had no plans to pull back, a US Central Command spokesman said.