Two of the most wanted al-Qaida in Iraq figures have been killed in a joint operation with the US, Iraq’s prime minister said today.

Gaza’s fragile ceasefire was broken today when an Israeli soldier was killed by a bomb.

AL-QAIDA has confirmed the death of a senior commander known as a top explosives and poisons expert, who is believed to have been killed in a US airstrike in Pakistan last week.

Al-Qaida posted a statement on the internet today saying four of its Afghanistan commanders have been killed, including an explosives expert wanted by the US.

Iraqi police commandos claim they have captured the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq in a raid in the northern city of Mosul in what would mark a significant blow to the Sunni insurgency in its last urban stronghold.

The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been arrested in the northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi Defence Ministry spokesman said tonight.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sought to calm the Lebanese today - the country's first day without a president - assuring them that the military, which has vowed to stay out of politics, is on the streets to prevent violence while deadlocked factions work to resolve the crisis.

Hundreds of Palestinian business people and professionals, led by a billionaire, have launched a new political movement, reflecting growing disillusionment with President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

The highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, the US command said today.

US and Iraqi officials are still trying to confirm reports that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was killed by rivals north of Baghdad.

Iraqi officials have received reports that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq has been killed north of Baghdad but the information has not been confirmed, the chief government spokesman said today.

The US military today said it has no indication that the al Qaida in Iraq leader was killed or wounded in a raid north of Baghdad, while an Iraqi army officer said his deputy has been jailed south of Baghdad for a week.

The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was wounded and an aide was killed in a clash today with Iraqi forces north of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry spokesman said.

Arrest warrants have been issued for 13 people in connection with the alleged CIA-orchestrated kidnapping of a German citizen in the agency’s extraordinary rendition programme.

Iraqi officials are doing DNA tests on a killed militant to determine if he is al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the deputy interior minister said today.

SECURITY forces are closing in on the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, a senior Iraqi official said yesterday, showing a captured video of the terror chief teaching followers how to build a car bomb.

Security forces are closing in on the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, a senior official said today, showing a captured video of the terror chief teaching followers how to build a car bomb.

US forces have arrested a senior al-Qaida terrorist and personal associate of the group’s new leader, the top US military spokesman in Iraq said today.

THE largest Sunni Arab bloc in Iraq’s parliament said yesterday it was suspending its participation in the legislature until a kidnapped colleague was released, dealing a blow to efforts to involve the disaffected minority in the political process.

Iraq released a most-wanted list of 41 names today, including Saddam Hussein’s wife and eldest daughter, as well as the new leader of al Qaida in Iraq and one of the ousted president’s closest allies.

US and Iraqi forces killed 104 insurgents in hundreds of raids since last week’s killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and the American death toll in the war in Iraq hit 2,500, the US military said today.

Terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still alive when Iraqi police arrived at a site that was bombed by US forces, a top-level spokesman for American military forces said today.

THE killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi deprives Islamic terrorism of one of its most high-profile leaders.

A prosecution witness in a trial in Amman, Jordan, today said an Iraqi woman lied when she said she did not plan to blow herself up in Amman’s triple hotel blasts.

A man whose wedding was destroyed by a suicide attack today asked a Jordanian court to condemn to death by public hanging the one assailant who survived the bombing.

A senior Hamas official today said recognising Israel and negotiations with the Jewish state were “not on our agenda” after the group apparently won a decisive victory in legislative elections.

A European investigator said today he has mounting indications that the US illegally held detainees in Europe – then hurriedly shipped out the last ones to north Africa when word leaked out.

US SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that Washington would work to rectify any mistakes it has made in its war on terror, and insisted that the Bush administration does not condone torture.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that Washington would work to rectify any mistakes it has made in its war on terror, and insisted that the Bush administration does not condone torture.

Spain’s National Court has received a prosecutor’s report on allegations that the CIA used an airport on the Spanish island of Mallorca for a program of covert transfers of terror suspects, court officials said today.

A British man in custody in Zambia in connection with the July 7 London bombings was once a body guard for al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, Zambian security officials said today.

Sixty Jordanians held a vigil outside the British Embassy in Jordan’s capital, Amman, today to protest at the London terror attacks and express solidarity with the British people.

An armed group linked to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ ruling Fatah party today announced it would be willing to accept a ceasefire if Israel also agrees to stop its attacks.

Thousands of armed Palestinian police took up positions in the northern Gaza Strip to prevent attacks on Israel, and Islamic militants said they were suspending rocket fire – major steps toward a possible truce after more than four years of bloody Mideast conflict.

Islamic militant group Hamas joined in the mood of optimism in Gaza today and signalled it would suspend rocket attacks on Israel.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas summoned militant leaders to ceasefire talks in the Gaza Strip today, with his political survival depending on agreement by the armed groups to halt attacks against Israel.

In a first step against militants, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ordered his security forces today to try to prevent attacks against Israel and to investigate a shooting at a Gaza Strip crossing that killed six Israeli civilians last week.

Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas held talks with rival Palestinian factions today on sharing power and halting attacks on Israel ahead of a presidential election in January.

SECURITY is being stepped up at the border between the US and Mexico amid new intelligence al-Qaida aims to smuggle nuclear material through a crossing point.

The leader of the Turkish al-Qaida cell blamed for last November’s suicide bombings in Istanbul that killed the British consul has been blown up in Iraq, it was claimed today.

The trial of 69 suspected members of a Turkish al-Qaida cell charged in a string of November suicide bombings in Istanbul opened today, but the court quickly ruled that it did not have the authority to hear the case and that any judgment would have to come before another court.

Dozens of suspected members of a Turkish al-Qaida cell were going on trial in Istanbul today accused over a series of suicide bombings in the city that killed 61 people including the British Consul-General.

A series of bombs hidden in backpacks exploded in quick succession, blowing apart four commuter trains, killing at least 192 people and wounding more than 1,400.

Yasser Arafat is considering Monib al-Masri, a Palestinian billionaire with no apparent political ambitions, for the job of prime minister, an associate of the West Bank businessman said.