Gunmen raided the Baghdad offices of a new Sunni-Arab television station today, killing four guards and four technicians, police said.

At least 20 people were killed and 41 injured today in scattered violence around Iraq, including a mortar attack on the Health Ministry followed by a car bombing targeting a police patrol.

Six people were killed and 25 injured today in scattered violence around Iraq, including a mortar attack on the Health Ministry and a car bombing targeting a police patrol in Baghdad.

A surge in bloodshed left nearly 50 people dead in a suicide car bombing and clashes between Shiite militia and Iraqi security forces today, in a brutal contradiction of the prime minister’s claim that violence was decreasing.

A suicide car bomber killed 14 people and wounded 43 outside the Interior Ministry in downtown Baghdad today, police said, a day after an upsurge of violence left more than 50 people dead across the country.

Thousands of Shiite youths, some armed, headed into Iraq’s capital Baghdad today for a pro-Hezbollah rally as skirmishes erupted with US troops that left at least three people dead, officials said. Fifteen rally-goers were wounded in a bus bombing.

A bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded in the centre of Baghdad today, killing at least 12 people and injuring 29, police said.

Roadside bombs killed three labourers and a policemen in Iraq today, a day after bombings and shootings left more than 70 people dead in a dramatic surge of bloodshed in the country, police said.

The Iraqi government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew today after insurgent gunmen set up roadblocks in central Baghdad and opened fire on US and Iraqi troops just north of the heavily fortified Green Zone.

THREE car bombs rocked northern Baghdad yesterday morning within a span of half an hour while another struck a Shi’ite holy city, killing at least 17 and wounding 44.

Car bombs killed at least 16 people and injured dozens others in Baghdad and a Shiite holy city today, dashing hopes that the formation of a new government alone would provide a quick end to the country’s violence.

Two car bombs rocked northern Baghdad neighbourhoods today while another struck a Shiite holy city, in attacks that left at least 16 dead and 49 wounded, police and provincial officials said.

A car bomb explosion at a major crimes unit in central Baghdad killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 30 today, said police Lieutenant Colonel Falah al-Mohammadawi.

Roadside bombs targeting police patrols exploded in Baghdad and nearby Iskandariyah today, killing at least five people and wounding a dozen others.