More US troops were killed in combat in Iraq over the past four months – at least 334 through January 31 – than in any comparable stretch since the war began, according to an analysis of casualty records.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said today that the increase in US forces in Iraq is “not the last chance” to succeed and conceded he is considering what steps to take if the buildup does not work.

President George Bush today challenged politicians skeptical of his new Iraq plan to propose their own strategy for stopping the violence in Baghdad.

US officials say there is no immediate plan to strike targets in Iran, but would not rule out military action.

With 10 days left in office, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld bade a sometimes emotional farewell to Pentagon employees today, saying the single worst day of his nearly six years in office was in spring 2004 when he learned of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse committed by US troops in Iraq.

US President George Bush today said he had not yet decided on whether to send more US troops to Iraq or to begin bringing them home.

US President George W Bush yesterday praised a bipartisan commission on Iraq for asking him good questions but said “I’m not going to prejudge” the report the panel will issue.

US military commanders are re-evaluating strategy in Iraq to determine what changes are needed, the top general said.

President George Bush today said fresh threats by North Korea in the nuclear test row are designed to test the will of the five countries that are working to achieve a political settlement.

The Bush administration in Washington is saying it has no plans for radical shifts in Iraq war policy or for ultimatums to the Iraqi government, despite election-year pressure to change course.

US President George Bush reviewed Iraq strategy with his top commanders and national security advisers, but indicated little inclination for major changes to an increasingly divisive policy.

Two of the most senior US generals told Congress today that the surge in sectarian violence in Baghdad in recent weeks raises the possibility of Iraq descending into civil war.

The resurgent Taliban militia are a tactical problem for the US-led coalition but cannot not take over Afghanistan again, a top US general said, as the US-led coalition today reported that two of its soldiers were wounded in the volatile south.

Two US Marines were severely traumatised after following orders to photograph corpses of unarmed Iraqi civilians allegedly killed by members of their unit, their families said today.

AMERICA’S top-ranking military commander said yesterday “it would be premature for me to judge” the outcome of a Pentagon investigation into the killing of as many as a dozen Iraqi civilians by marines.

The White House today played down prospects of major troop withdrawals from Iraq in the near future.

The war on terror will continue long after Iraq and Afghanistan are stable, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told military officials from around the world today.

The US military says it will begin moving thousands of prisoners out of Abu Ghraib prison to a new jail near Baghdad’s airport within three months and hand the notorious facility over to Iraqi authorities as soon as possible.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused Iran yesterday of dispatching elements of its Revolutionary Guard to stir trouble inside Iraq.

Iraqi government officials today failed to deliver the promised results of an investigation into alleged torture at an interior ministry jail in Baghdad.

United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has decided the enemy in Iraq should not be called “insurgents”.

THE bodies of 13 American troops have been recovered from the crash of a US helicopter in eastern Afghanistan, but seven more soldiers are unaccounted for and some may have been captured.

US PRESIDENT George W Bush issued a strong endorsement yesterday of embattled Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, telling him after a meeting at the Pentagon: “You are doing a superb job.”

President George Bush issued a strong endorsement of embattled Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld today, telling him after a meeting at the Pentagon: “You are doing a superb job.”

Diplomatic efforts to end a standoff between US troops and an anti-American cleric in one of the holiest cities in Shiite Islam pressed forward today and an Iraqi leader said he saw “flexibility” on the side of the charismatic cleric, who heads a militia with several thousand members.

The US army’s claim that 54 Iraqis were killed in two deadly ambushes in the northern town of Samarra was disputed by Iraqi residents today.

The US may have to call up large number of additional National Guard and Reserve troops for duty in Iraq, a senior general said today.

THE US military has begun flying Iraqi opposition fighters to join in the war, a top general said, as the Pentagon warned the military may have to run the country for more than six months after the conflict.

Britain and Russia have formed a working group to combat global terror, Prime Minister Blair announced tonight.

US fighter jets today killed many Afghans driving in convoy in the Tora Bora region.

A top defence official says Osama bin Laden could be dead.

American forces were today searching for Osama bin Laden with a hit-list of cave networks in Afghanistan where the terrorist leader may be hiding.

The United States and its allies were today moving to seal off potential escape routes - even at sea - for terror chief Osama bin Laden.

An Afghan agriculture ministry laboratory where anthrax research was carried out was visited frequently by a Taliban official, scientists have said.