US troops raided a Shiite area of Baghdad today, capturing two militants believed linked to Iran and sparking a battle that Iraqi officials said killed 19 people.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months to demand that US troops leave Iraq.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani is expected to undergo a medical check-up during a three-week visit to the US.

Hundreds of angry Shiites poured onto the streets of two cities south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad today to protest over what they considered insults by Al-Jazeera television against Iraq’s most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

A suicide car bomb struck near the headquarters of a major Shiite political bloc today in Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding seven, including an Iraqi soldier, police said.

US troops arrested the son of Iraq’s top Shiite politician today as he returned to the country from Iran, it was reported today.

US officials are investigating allegations that an Iraqi politician took part in the 1983 bombing of the US and French embassies in Kuwait and is a conduit for Iranian weapons and supplies smuggled to Shiite militias, a spokesman said today.

The US military is planning to move a brigade of troops into Kuwait in what could be the first step of a short-term surge of American forces into Iraq to stabilise the violence.

President George Bush will meet his defence experts today to thrash out the nuts and bolts of his yet-to-be-revealed Iraq strategy plan.

US President George W Bush today opened three days of intensive consultations on Iraq, aiming to reverse the course of the nearly four-year-old war and energise his final two years in office.

Suspected insurgents set off a car bomb to stop a minibus carrying Shiite government employees in Baghdad, then shot and killed 15 of them, the Iraqi government said.

President George Bush today told an Iraqi leader the US was not satisfied with the progress of efforts to stop the sharp escalation of violence in Iraq.

Iraq’s president rejected suggestions that an international conference be held to address the violence wracking his country, echoing sentiments expressed by other leading politicians.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II today pressed the need to resolve the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict amid renewed calls for peace during a crucial two-day visit by US President George Bush that also was set to include talks with Iraq’s prime minister.

US President George Bush arrived at Amman airport tonight to begin a two-day visit with Jordan’s king and Iraq’s prime minister for talks on finding a way to calm the sectarian violence that threatens to tear Iraq apart.

A suicide bomber detonated a belt of explosives near a highly-revered Shiite shrine in southern Iraq today, killing at least 33 people and injuring 108.

Gunmen attacked two Sunni mosques today in Baghdad, fanning Iraq’s sectarian crisis, as US military officials confirmed three more US Marines died in action in separate attacks in western Iraq.

A mortar barrage followed minutes later by a car bomb struck Baghdad’s upscale Karradah district today, killing 31 people and wounding 153, police said.

IRAQI police in Baghdad’s Shi’ite slum of Sadr City brandished their guns, firing in the air and chanting to show their elation over the news of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s death.

Police in a Shiite slum brandished their guns and fired into the air in celebration today as Iraqis welcomed the announcement that terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed last night in a US airstrike.

The Sunni Arab bloc in Iraq’s parliament remains opposed to a new term for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and will ask the Shiites to present new names for consideration for the top government post, a Sunni spokesman said today.

On the day of the first session of Iraq’s new parliament today, and within days of the third anniversary of the US-led invasion, the country lie under the shadow of a feared civil war and politicians report a stalemate over the next government.

Iraq’s Shiite prime minister declared yesterday that he would not be blackmailed into abandoning his bid for a second term.

Iraq’s president today said he would call the country’s new parliament into session for the first time on Sunday, starting the clock on a 60-day period during which the legislature must elect a new head of state and sign off on a prime minister and Cabinet.

Leaders of Sunni, Kurdish and a secular political party decided today to ask the Shiite alliance to withdraw its nomination of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari for another term, political officials said.

IRAQ’S most influential Shi’ite political leader called yesterday for Sunni-Shi’ite unity as religious figures sought to calm passions and pull the nation from the brink of civil war.

Iraq’s most influential Shiite political leader today called for Sunni-Shiite unity as religious figures sought to calm passions and pull the nation from the brink of civil war after the bombing of a Shiite shrine two days ago and a wave of deadly reprisal attacks.

A BOMB attack on one of Iraq's most revered Shi'ite shrines yesterday spawned mass protests and reprisal attacks against dozens of Sunni mosques.

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.

GUERRILLAS killed 10 Iraqi policemen and soldiers in attacks north of Baghdad yesterday, while the capital itself was rocked by five major explosions that left at least eight dead.

Insurgents killed at least 10 people in attacks around Iraq today, including five police officers killed at a checkpoint.

The US military will not hand over jails or individual detainees to Iraqi authorities until they demonstrate higher standards of care, an American official said, two weeks after the discovery of 120 abused Iraqi prisoners.

SUNNI ARABS alleged yesterday that last week's Iraqi parliamentary elections were fraudulent, especially in Baghdad province.

A suicide car bomb exploded today outside an apartment building used by the Badr Brigade, a Shiite militia linked to one of the main parties in the Iraqi government, killing at least one person and wounding three, police said.

TALKS on the Iraqi constitution remained deadlocked last night over a proposal to ban members of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party from public life.

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.

Clergy-backed Shiites and independence-minded Kurds swept to victory in Iraq’s elections, according to final results released tonight.

Iraqis turned out to vote today in their country’s first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched deadly suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations. By midday, at least 36 people were dead but the violence had slowed and voting picked up.

Iraqis turned out to vote today in their country’s first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched deadly suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations.

Three Iraqis were killed when a truck bomb exploded soon after a US patrol passed by as two UN security experts arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to study the possible return of international staff.