Coalition forces killed six insurgents in raids targeting the terror network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi near the Syrian border today, the US military said.

US forces are holding Ayad Futayyih Khalifa al-Rawi, number 30 on America’s list of the 55 most-wanted former Iraqi officials, the military said today.

IRAQ vowed yesterday to step up suicide attacks and said more than 4,000 Arabs had come to Iraq ready to “martyr” themselves to defeat a US-led invasion.

A general from Saddam Hussein’s army has been captured in southern Iraq and is being pressed to provide strategic information, British officers said today.