The Turkish army clashed with Kurdish rebels in the south east and northern Iraq in their deadliest battle in eight months, as the government pledged there would be no let-up.

Turkey bombed Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq today.

MARCH 17, 2003: US President George Bush gives Saddam Hussein 48-hour deadline to give up power.

Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flew out from Iraq at the end of his ground-breaking visit today with a final volley of taunts at the West’s presence there.

Two women suicide bombers who killed nearly 80 people in Baghdad today were Down’s Syndrome victims exploited by al-Qaida.

Iraq’s political crisis worsened today as five more ministers announced a boycott of Cabinet meetings – leaving the embattled prime minister’s unity government with no members affiliated with Sunni political factions.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani is expected to undergo a medical check-up during a three-week visit to the US.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani today left a Jordanian hospital to fly back to Baghdad.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will leave his Jordanian hospital tomorrow and return to Baghdad, Iraq’s ambassador to Jordan said today.

Iraq’s vice president arrived in Syria today for talks ahead of Saturday’s conference in Baghdad of world powers and Iraq’s neighbours.

US and Iraqi forces staged raids in Baghdad’s main Shiite militant stronghold today as part of politically-sensitive forays into areas loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

IRAQ’S Shi’ite vice president escaped an apparent assassination attempt yesterday after a bomb exploded in municipal offices where he was making a speech, knocking him down with the force of the blast that left at least 10 people dead.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s private doctor today said the president had not suffered any heart troubles.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani fell ill yesterday and was taken unconscious to a hospital before being flown to neighbouring Jordan for a medical check-up, medical and government officials said.

The Government has today condemned the executions of allies of Saddam Hussein.

Syria’s president promised to do what he could to ease tensions in neighbouring Iraq during a landmark visit by the country’s president Jalal Talabani, just days after US president George Bush accused Syria of backing Iraq’s uprising.

The half-brother of Saddam Hussein and the former head of Iraq’s Revolutionary Court were hanged before dawn today, two weeks and two days after the former dictator was executed in a disturbing scene that drew worldwide criticism.

The Iraqi foreign minister today said the five Iranians detained by US-led forces in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq were working in a liaison office that had government approval and was in the process of being approved as a consulate.

Rage over the hanging of Saddam Hussein spilled into the streets in many parts of the Sunni Muslim heartland today, especially in Samarra where a mob of angry protesters broke the locks off the badly damaged Shiite Golden Dome mosque and marched through carrying a mock coffin and photo of the executed former leader.

In an internet letter in the name of Saddam Hussein, the deposed dictator has called on Iraqis not to hate the invaders of their country.

An appeals court decision upholding Saddam Hussein’s death sentence is final and does not require the approval of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, a presidential spokesman said today.

Iraqi security forces are doing everything they can to protect victims of sectarian violence in Baghdad, including families that are being driven from their homes in mixed neighbourhoods of Shiites and Sunni Arabs, a government official said today.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani today harshly criticised the bipartisan report recommending changes to US war policies, saying it contained some “very dangerous” recommendations that would undermine the sovereignty of Iraq.

Turkey’s premier today held talks on the security situation in Iraq with a top Iranian official and met with Iran’s president to discuss “the most important issues in the region.”

US President George Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will discuss a speedier hand-over of security control to Iraqi forces as a prelude to the start of a US withdrawal when they meet in Amman, Jordan, later this week, top Iraqi government officials said today.

After nearly a quarter-century of severed ties, Iraq said it would resume diplomatic relations with neighbouring Syria – a move seen as a possible step toward stemming some of the unrelenting violence, which claimed another 100 lives.

Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Tehran for a weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to thrash out ways to cooperate in curbing violence in Iraq, four key politicians said today.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, making a visit to Iraq, said today that its leaders have limited time to settle political differences spurring sectarian and insurgent violence.

Coalition forces handed over control of Iraq’s armed forces command to the government today, a move US officials have hailed as a crucial milestone on the country’s difficult road to independence.

A series of violent attacks across Iraq left more than a dozen people dead, including three US soldiers, authorities said today. The killings came despite assurances from U.S. officials that progress was being made to improve security in the capital.

US forces seized hundreds of mortar rounds and rockets in a Sunni neighbourhood of Baghdad today, and detained two suspected terrorists.

Four US soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter were killed by a roadside bomb north-west of Baghdad today and at least two dozen Iraqis died in violence across the country, as politicians put the final touches on a national unity government they hope will restore security to Iraq.

Turkey has deployed more than 30,000 additional troops in its predominantly Kurdish south-east and along its rugged border with Iraq and Iran to fight Kurdish guerrillas and stop them from infiltrating across the Iraqi border.

IRAQI authorities yesterday filed genocide charges against Saddam Hussein, accusing him and six co-defendants in the 1980s crackdown that killed an estimated 100,000 Kurds.

Iraq’s Shiite prime minister declared yesterday that he would not be blackmailed into abandoning his bid for a second term.

IRAQ’S president said yesterday he would convene the new parliament for the first time on March 12, beginning a 60-day countdown during which lawmakers must elect a new head of state and sign off on a prime minister and cabinet.

Iraq’s president today said he would call the country’s new parliament into session for the first time on Sunday, starting the clock on a 60-day period during which the legislature must elect a new head of state and sign off on a prime minister and Cabinet.

THE bodies of three Iraqi journalists, including a correspondent for Al-Arabiya television, were found yesterday near Samarra, police and the network said.

Muslims across the Middle East – Sunnis and Shiites alike – largely ignored sectarian divides today to unite in condemnation of the the bombing that destroyed of the golden dome that graced one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines.

A CAR BOMB killed at least 22 people in Baghdad yesterday, hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari angrily dismissed US warnings to shun sectarianism in the country’s new government.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani condemned the alleged abuse by British soldiers of Iraqi youths that was caught on film in 2004, describing it as “unjustified”, his spokesman said today.

SHI’ITE lawmakers yesterday chose Ibrahim al-Jaafari to be Iraq’s new prime minister, taking a key step in forming a government nearly two months after national elections, officials said.

Shiite lawmakers today chose Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to head the new government, selecting the incumbent by a one-vote margin over Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Shiite officials said.

Kidnapped American reporter Jill Carroll appeared in a silent 20-second video aired in Iraq yesterday by Al-Jazeera television, which said her abductors gave the US 72 hours to free female prisoners or she would be killed.