More than 100 bodies were reported to be lying in the burned-out gym of the Russian school where an armed siege ended in its third day after commandos stormed the building.

US troops entered Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit yesterday, meeting little resistance despite fears it could be the scene of a last stand by regime diehards.

Kurds in the northern town of Arbil have gathered to cheer and wave, holding aloft pictures of their Kurdish leader, as scenes of defiance spread throughout Iraq.