A pair of mortar rounds followed minutes later by a car bomb blasted Baghdad’s Karradah district today, killing a total of 24 people and wounding 46, police said.

International relief poured into Indonesia’s earthquake disaster zone today, but for many of the estimated 647,000 displaced people, aid was not arriving quickly enough and healthcare remained patchy.

Police and soldiers responding to a report of killings today found 30 bodies, most beheaded, near a village north of Baghdad.

Two suicide car-bombings, along with a string of other attacks in and around Baghdad today, have left 14 people dead, police and army officials said.

Ten people were killed in a string of separate attacks in and around Baghdad today, including a suicide car bombing at an army checkpoint, police said.

More than a dozen gunmen launched an assault on a Baghdad police station early today, wounding two policemen and causing some damage to the building.

Two US soldiers were killed when their helicopter was shot down and crashed in central Iraq, the military said today, as the government prepared to ring Baghdad with tens of thousands of security forces to curb the rampant insurgency.

A car bomb exploded near a busy market and cinema in eastern Baghdad today, killing at least 17 people and wounding 65, police said.

Two US Marines were killed and 14 wounded when an explosive device hit their troop transport vehicle during a large American offensive being fought against suspected insurgents in western Iraq, the military said today.

A car bomb exploded near a market in eastern Baghdad today, killing at least six people and wounding 13, police said.

Insurgents launched a series of attacks in the so-called Sunni triangle area of Iraq, killing at least 19 people, including one US soldier, and wounding 16 others.

An American soldier was jailed today for his part in the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.