Survivors of a US attack on Iraq’s border with Syria say a bomb scored a direct hit on a tent where wedding party revellers were sleeping.

A ROADSIDE bomb containing deadly sarin nerve agent exploded near a US military convoy, the US military said yesterday.

BACKED by helicopters US tanks charged into Najaf yesterday and blasted positions held by fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who condemned the US in a sermon.

NO TELEVISION cameras or tape recorders will be allowed in the courtroom at next week’s court-martial of a US soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, a senior US officer said yesterday.

No television cameras or tape recorders will be allowed in the courtroom at next week’s court-martial of a US soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, a senior US officer said today.

A 24-YEAR-OLD US military policeman will be the first soldier to face a court martial in connection with the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

A 24-year-old military policeman has been ordered to stand trial in the first court martial in connection with abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

Coalition forces raided buildings used by a militia loyal to a radical Shiite cleric in two southern Iraqi cities today in fighting that killed 15 Iraqis and an American soldier

Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, the commander of the prison in which photographs were taken of the torture and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners, told US television network ABC today that she did not know about the prisoner abuse.

THREE weeks after his kidnapping, US hostage Thomas Hamill was yesterday free.

US hostage Thomas Hamill was recovered by US forces south of Tikrit in Iraq today after he apparently escaped from captors who had been holding him since an attack on a convoy on April 9, the US military said.

Outrage flashed across the Middle East as TV stations showed graphic images of naked Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by smiling US military police.

PHOTOGRAPHS of Iraqi prisoners, naked except for hoods covering their heads, stacked in a human pyramid, have been shown on prime time US TV.

Photographs of Iraqi prisoners, naked except for hoods covering their heads, stacked in a human pyramid, have been shown on prime time US TV.

MULTIPLE explosions shook Fallujah after dark yesterday as fighting erupted in the Iraqi city for the second straight night.

A team from the international Red Cross visited ousted and imprisoned Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein today to see his conditions in US custody.

US troops fought a gun battle overnight with insurgents near the Iraqi holy Shiite city of Najaf, killing 43 gunmen and destroying an anti-aircraft system belonging to the insurgents, the US military in Baghdad said.

Two US soldiers were killed when an explosion levelled part of a Baghdad building as they searched it for suspected production of “chemical munitions”.

TWO American soldiers were killed yesterday when an explosion levelled part of a Baghdad building they were searching for suspected production of “chemical munitions”.

Two American soldiers died today when a Baghdad building they were searching for “chemical” munitions blew up.

The US military extended a ceasefire for Fallujah for at least two more days, backing down from warnings of an all-out US marine assault and announcing that American and Iraqi forces would begin joint patrols in the city.

IRAQ’S multinational peacekeeping force scrambled to regroup yesterday after Spain’s announcement that it would pull out its 1,300 troops, with Albania pledging more soldiers but US officials bracing themselves for more withdrawals.

Around 70 US-led coalition troops and 700 Iraqi insurgents have been killed in fighting across Iraq since April 1, but there is no authoritative figure on Iraqi civilian deaths, US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said today.

Insurgents shot down a US Apache attack helicopter in west Baghdad today, killing its two crew-members, the US military said.

A third round of negotiations aimed at ending fighting in the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah will be held today, a US commander said.

A US general today called on Sunni militants in Fallujah to join in a ceasefire to allow further negotiations between Iraqi leaders and representatives of the besieged city.

SHI'ITE Muslim mourners chanted anti-American slogans yesterday, venting their anger at Iraq's instability after suicide bombings killed up to 271 pilgrims.

At least 143 people were killed when simultaneous explosions ripped through crowds of worshippers today at Shiite Muslim shrines in Baghdad and Karbala on the holiest day of the Shiite calendar.

An American military OH-58 Kiowa helicopter has crashed into a river west of Baghdad, killing the two crew members on board.

A US military helicopter crashed today into a river west of Baghdad, police said, and a witness reported seeing a missile hit the aircraft.

American troops killed a key lieutenant of suspected al-Qaida linked militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi during a shoot-out west of Baghdad, the US military said today.

Two US soldiers were killed and six wounded today during a blast that took place as troops were trying to dispose of explosives, a US officer said.

American paratroopers have captured a former Baath Party official who was number 54 on the list of 55 most wanted figures from Saddam Hussein’s regime.

A cache of 36 shells buried in the Iraqi desert have been uncovered, and preliminary tests by British experts showed they contained a liquid blister agent, it emerged today.

Nine American troops were killed today when a Black Hawk helicopter on a medical mission went down in Iraq’s violent Sunni Triangle.

Iraqi political parties and coalition chiefs are discussing the creation of a 1,000-member militia to bolster the US military’s fight against the guerrilla uprising.

IRAQI rebels combined hi-tech with low-tech yesterday when using donkey carts as launchers in a missile attack on the oil ministry and two Baghdad hotels.