A SUICIDE car bomber detonated explosives in a crowd of labourers gathered across the street from a major Shi’ite shrine in southern Iraq yesterday, killing at least 53 people and wounding 105.

Iraqi security forces have detained the leaders of the Omar Brigade group, a wing of al-Qaida in Iraq that had claimed to have carried out many deadly attacks throughout the country, according to National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie.

A Jordanian who was responsible for slaughtering two US soldiers last month was fatally wounded in a clash with security forces, a senior Iraqi official said today.

THE largest Sunni Arab bloc in Iraq’s parliament said yesterday it was suspending its participation in the legislature until a kidnapped colleague was released, dealing a blow to efforts to involve the disaffected minority in the political process.

Iraq released a most-wanted list of 41 names today, including Saddam Hussein’s wife and eldest daughter, as well as the new leader of al Qaida in Iraq and one of the ousted president’s closest allies.

Terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been buried in an undisclosed location, the US military and Iraqi government officials said today.

Iraq’s National Security adviser today said authorities had arrested a key al-Qaida suspect – a Tunisian – wanted for the bombing of the Shiite Golden Dome shrine last February in Samarra.

US and Iraqi forces killed 104 insurgents in hundreds of raids since last week’s killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and the American death toll in the war in Iraq hit 2,500, the US military said today.

Terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi planned to try to destroy the relationship between the United States and its Shiite allies in Iraq and help start a war between America and Iran.

The Iraqi government is on the attack against al-Qaida in Iraq after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the national security adviser said today.

Encouraged by the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and a new government in Iraq, George Bush is gathering his top military and civilian war advisers today to plan the US role in the country’s future.

A BOMB attack on one of Iraq's most revered Shi'ite shrines yesterday spawned mass protests and reprisal attacks against dozens of Sunni mosques.

A large explosion today destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq’s most famous Shiite religious shrines, sending protesters pouring into the streets. It was the third major attack against Shiite targets in as many days.

A large explosion heavily damaged the golden dome of one of Iraq’s most famous Shiite religious shrines today, sending protesters pouring into the streets. It was the third major attack against Shiite targets in as many days.

Suicide bombers blasted through the concrete walls surrounding the Palestine Hotel in central Baghdad, where many foreign journalists live and work, injuring about five people inside the hotel and killing at least six passers-by on the streets outside.

THREE massive vehicle bombs exploded yesterday near Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel, home to many Western journalists, killing at least 20 people.

THOUSANDS of Shi'ites, many waving the Koran over their heads, protested the US presence in Iraq yesterday after the detention of several supporters of a radical cleric.

Saddam Hussein’s chief lawyer today accused unnamed Iranian-backed Iraqi politicians of plotting to assassinate the ousted dictator in his prison cell and held the US responsible for his safety.

A car bomb exploded in an upscale shopping district of Baghdad today, killing at least six Iraqis and setting fire to an apartment building, in a surge of violence that has left at least 127 people dead since a new government was formed last week. A British soldier died in fighting in southern Iraq.

GUNMEN assassinated an Iraqi woman member of parliament yesterday in a fresh shock to politicians whose failure to form a government three months after elections has allowed violence to thrive unchecked.

An Iraqi MP was shot and killed by militants who stormed into her house today, Iraqi police said.

The US military decided to speed up its inquiry into why American troops opened fire on a car carrying an Italian journalist rescued from insurgents in Iraq, killing the Italian intelligence agent who had helped save her.

Iraq’s national security adviser said today he hoped the trial of Saddam Hussein would begin by the end of this year.

War crimes trials against Iraq’s former Baath Party leaders will begin next week, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said today.

Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has agreed to withdraw his militia from Najaf and hand the city back to Iraqi police, the government said, raising hopes for an end to weeks of fighting with coalition forces.

One person was wounded when at least 10 rockets detonated in central Baghdad, near an area that houses the headquarters of the US-led coalition.

Iraqi politicians and a top Shiite cleric have successfully resolved their differences over the country’s interim constitution and will sign the charter tomorrow.

At least 10 Iraqi civilians were killed today when two suicide bombers launched an attack on a coalition base where international troops are based.

Iraq’s US-appointed Governing Council has met for the first time to look into ways of appointing judges to a new war crimes tribunal that could try Saddam Hussein.

THE massive blast when a petrol tanker exploded in a fireball after colliding with a bus in the centre of Baghdad yesterday, killing 17 Iraqis, was an accident, said US military investigators.