THE top US commander in Iraq said yesterday that he needs more international forces to deal with an array of potential security threats, including al-Qaida terrorists, Iranian fighters and clashes between ethnic and religious militias.

A powerful Shiite member of Iraq’s US-picked Governing Council raged against the occupation of the country during a eulogy at the funeral of his murdered brother attended by almost half a million people today.

BEATING their chests and calling for revenge, more than 300,000 Muslims began a two-day, 110-mile march yesterday to the holy city of Najaf to mourn a cherished Shi'ite leader assassinated in a car bombing.

Iraqi police have arrested four men – including two Saudis – in connection with the bombing of Iraq’s most holy Shi-ite Muslim shrine.

Thousands of angry mourners called for vengeance today as they gathered outside Iraq’s holiest Shi-ite shrine where a day earlier a car bomb ripped through a crowd of worshippers, killing at least 85 people – including a leading cleric.

Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim had just delivered a sermon calling for Iraqi unity and Friday prayers were under way at Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrine when a car bomb exploded.

ON his return to Iraq following Saddam Hussein’s fall from power, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim was hailed as Iraq’s version of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian Shiite leader who led his country’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

On his return to Iraq following Saddam Hussein’s fall from power, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim was hailed as Iraq’s version of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian Shiite leader who led his country’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

The leader of the largest Shiite Muslim group that opposed Saddam Hussein today called for a democratic government to rule Iraq.

ALLIED forces were yesterday holding a commander of the Baghdad Ba’ath Party after he was handed over by Iraqi Kurds.