SUICIDE attackers wearing women's robes blew themselves up yesterday in a Shi'ite mosque in northern Baghdad, killing at least 79 people and wounding 164.

Top US officials strongly condemned the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine today, calling it a desperate and despicable act designed to foment sectarian strife.

THE Islamist Shi'ite Alliance bloc will fall short of retaining its parliamentary majority after last month's election, according to an almost final tally of seats.

SUICIDE bombers targeted Shi’ite pilgrims in the south and police recruits in central Iraq, while a roadside bomb killed five US soldiers, bringing the death toll to at least 130 people in a series of attacks.

IRAQ’s ruling Shi’ite Islamist parties struck a last-minute deal to patch up differences yesterday and agreed to register as a united bloc for December 15 polls where they face a new Sunni Arab alliance.

Election officials counted millions of paper ballots across Iraq today as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it appeared the country’s draft constitution had passed – despite a surprisingly large turnout by Sunni Arab opponents.

Iraqi police have found 14 unidentified bodies at several locations near a farming town south of Baghdad.

THE speaker of Iraq’s Parliament last night announced a one-day extension in talks on Iraq’s new constitution.

The radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (pictured) today called on his followers to end clashes with Shiite rivals so stalled talks on a new constitution can proceed.

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.

Robin Wright sees US plans for the future of Iraq backfiring.

An Iraqi delegation sent by a national conference in Baghdad flew to besieged Najaf by helicopter today to present radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr with a peace proposal aimed at ending a violent insurgency wracking the holy city.

IRAQ got its first post-war cabinet yesterday as the funeral march for Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, killed in the Najaf car bomb massacre, continued its three-day journey to the revered cleric’s final resting place.

THOUSANDS of angry Shi’ite Muslims, many vowing revenge, thronged the streets of the Iraqi holy city of Najaf yesterday for the funerals of three men killed in a bomb attack that wounded a top cleric.

US forces have captured a former senior Baath Party leader who is number eight on Central Command’s list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis.

US forces yesterday said they had captured another wanted Iraqi general, as American administrators tried to curb mounting resentment among ordinary Iraqis by restoring vital services to battered Baghdad.