Talks on who would get what in Iraq’s newly-elected National Assembly were underway today but the clergy-backed Shiites, whose winning margin was smaller than they expected, may now have to compromise more than anticipated.

Leaders of the mostly Shiite Muslim ticket said today they have no intention of establishing an Iranian-style Islamic state in Iraq if they sweep next weekend’s national elections.

A CLERIC with links to Iran leads the candidate list of Iraq’s mainstream Shi’ite Muslim groups for next month’s election.

An explosion just before dawn at an office belonging to Iraq’s major Shiite party killed one Iraqi woman and wounded five others in Baghdad today.

An Apache helicopter that crash-landed near the northern city of Mosul may have been hit by ground fire while making a low pass over the area, US soldiers said.

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

Iraq is preparing to put deposed dictator Saddam Hussain on trial in his absence for war crimes and genocide .

Iraqi political parties and coalition chiefs are discussing the creation of a 1,000-member militia to bolster the US military’s fight against the guerrilla uprising.

American soldiers today captured a man described as one of Saddam Hussein’s “executioners.”

THE top US commander in Iraq said yesterday that he needs more international forces to deal with an array of potential security threats, including al-Qaida terrorists, Iranian fighters and clashes between ethnic and religious militias.

A powerful Shiite member of Iraq’s US-picked Governing Council raged against the occupation of the country during a eulogy at the funeral of his murdered brother attended by almost half a million people today.

On his return to Iraq following Saddam Hussein’s fall from power, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim was hailed as Iraq’s version of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian Shiite leader who led his country’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

The Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV network has reported the death toll in a car bomb attack at an Iraqi holy shrine was at least 17.

A BOMB exploded outside the house of one of Iraq's most important Shi'ite clerics yesterday, killing three guards and injuring 10 others.

Terrorists detonated a bomb outside the house of one of the most important Muslim Shiite clerics in Iraq today, killing three guards and injuring 10 others including family members.

THE United States yesterday said Iraq should have an interim national leadership in place