The US general in charge of the Iraq war today issued a statement saying Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party was “dissolved,” ordering the political organisation that ruled the country for 35 years to cease existence.

Marines found seven missing US troops today on the road between Baghdad and Tikrit.

SCENES of anarchy on the streets of Baghdad have sounded alarm bells for the US and British governments and aid agencies, and defence analysts warn US troops could face a dangerous law-and-order vacuum in Iraq.

General Tommy Franks, chief of US Central Command, said today that his troops are ready to launch operations in Iraq – if Washington asks them to.

A US war game that many believe is a rehearsal for invading Iraq began today in the Gulf state of Qatar.

President George Bush has received a detailed Pentagon plan containing military options for deposing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, a senior defence official said today.

The US government has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the Tora Bora battle in eastern Afghanistan last year, and that he escaped because US ground troops were not sent in to get him, it was reported today.

The first US soldier killed during the Operation Anaconda assault on al-Qaida this month in Afghanistan may have been hit by friendly fire, officials disclosed today.

US military planes bombed and destroyed a building where top al-Qaida terrorist leaders were believed to have gathered, a US official said.

US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld has described the targeting of Taliban frontline troops in Afghanistan as a logical step towards the goal of destroying the Taliban and the al Qaida terrorist network it harbours.