Syrian warplanes and artillery have pounded the central city of Homs, subjecting the former rebel stronghold to its worst bombardment in months, activists said.

A senior leader of al-Qaida in Iraq suspected of masterminding deadly bombings in Baghdad, has been killed, the US military said today.

A US soldier kidnapped last week in Baghdad was married to an Iraqi college student and was with his wife and her family when hooded gunmen took him, a woman claiming to be his mother-in-law said today.

IRAQI construction worker Fayez Kazem gathered his meagre savings and headed for a bus stop in central Amman looking for a ride home. He said that he could not sit in Jordan while Baghdad was under coalition attack.