A massive effort by US and Nato forces including offensives in the insurgent heartland and targeted assassinations of rebel leaders has failed to dent Taliban numbers over the past year, according to the military and diplomats.

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.

Rockets fired from donkey carts slammed into Iraq’s Oil Ministry and two hotels used by US workers and foreign journalists in Baghdad today injuring at least one man.

A CAR bomb exploded near the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad yesterday, killing the driver and wounding more than a dozen others.

A speeding suicide driver detonated his car bomb on a busy commercial avenue in Baghdad today leaving six people dead and dozens wounded.