At least six NATO allies are refusing to send military instructors to help the United States train Iraqi officers, another impediment in the Bush administration’s drive for support for its effort to pacify Iraq.

The United Nations envoy who is helping draft an Iraqi interim government urged President George W Bush’s administration today to “tread carefully” in besieged Fallujah and avoid alienating an already angry populace.

A French lawyer infamous for defending terrorists and a Nazi leader today said he has been asked to defend Saddam Hussein.

AN apparent suicide attacker struck a US military base yesterday in the town of Ramadi, the site of repeated strikes against Iraq’s US occupiers, a US military official said.

EUROPEAN Union leaders vowed yesterday to put differences over the Iraq war behind them and said they were willing to work together and with the United States to rebuild the war-battered Arab country.

Residents burned buildings and plundered banks, grabbing wads of money, as Iraq’s third city descended into anarchy today after US and Kurdish forces swept into Mosul and Saddam Hussein’s troops fled.

A CROWD yesterday hacked to death two leading Islamic clerics in a shrine in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf where rival Shi’ite factions had gathered for talks.

A crowd rushed two Islamic clerics and hacked them to death in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf today, witnesses said.

The Peace and Neutrality Alliance has said that the United Nations should be given temporary control over Iraq following the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein by the United States and Britain.

MEN smoked water pipes at cafes and played backgammon outside their homes and teenagers played soccer in Baghdad’s streets yesterday even as US troops rolled through the Iraqi capital.

US troops stormed into the heart of Baghdad yesterday, grabbing two of President Saddam Hussein's palace compounds but losing four dead on the fringes of the capital as Iraqi forces fought back fiercely.

A US ARMOURED force punched into the heart of Baghdad yesterday and established a stronghold in one of President Saddam Hussein’s palaces, while troops in central Iraq found a cache of suspected Iraqi chemical weapons.

AFTER a two-week siege, British tanks shot their way into the centre of Basra yesterday in a bid to stamp out dogged resistance in Iraq’s second city from paramilitary fighters loyal to President Saddam Hussein.

United States tanks and armoured vehicles made a bold incursion into Baghdad and swept through southern suburbs of the Iraqi capital, neutralising intermittent resistance by President Saddam Hussein’s loyalists.

United States ground forces made a bold daytime raid into the Iraqi capital today as other coalition troops moved in from the south to test the strength of President Saddam Hussein’s defenders, who are believed to have fallen back for an urban battle, officials said.

Substantial numbers of coalition troops were near the centre of Baghdad today and had no plans to pull back, a US Central Command spokesman said.

THE Bush administration is considering quickly installing an interim Iraqi authority in areas under the control of US-led forces while the government in Baghdad is cut off from the rest of the country, administration officials said yesterday.

TWO US soldiers were killed as American forces secured Baghdad airport yesterday, a crucial step in their bid to establish a base of operations for coalition forces just outside the Iraqi capital.

THE presidential Old Palace complex on the west bank of the Tigris River in Baghdad has come under renewed attack from US forces after they secured the city’s international airport yesterday.

American forces secured Baghdad airport today, a crucial step in their bid to establish a base of operations for coalition forces just outside the Iraqi capital.

Huge explosions echoed across Baghdad early today while south of the capital Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard came under ferocious Allied bombardment and ground troops engaged in fierce street battles.

Huge explosions rocked the heart of the Iraqi capital tonight, sending huge clouds of smoke over a building in the centre of the city and around the presidential Old Palace compound across the Tigris River.

IRAQ vowed yesterday to step up suicide attacks and said more than 4,000 Arabs had come to Iraq ready to “martyr” themselves to defeat a US-led invasion.

IT may be a shadow of its former self, but Iraq's Republican Guard is still a combat-hardened force. And it stands at the gates to Baghdad.

BRITISH forces battled more than 1,000 die-hard Iraqi loyalists for control of Basra yesterday , coming to the defence of inhabitants who rose up against President Saddam Hussein in the streets of Iraq’s second-largest city.

President Bush is expected to ask Congress for more than $74bn to pay for the war with Iraq, assuming a month of combat, and for strengthening counter-terrorism efforts at home, aides said tonight

MUSHROOM clouds plumed into the skies over Baghdad last night as hundreds of cruise missiles and bombs rained down upon Iraq’s capital.

HEAVY explosions, air raid sirens and the crackle of anti-aircraft fire thundered through Baghdad last night as the Iraqi capital faced a second night of US-led attacks.

War started in Iraq early today with a bold attempt to assassinate Saddam Hussein with cruise missiles and precision guided bombs.

IRAQ won the first battle in the propaganda war last night as Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz met reporters in Baghdad, scotching reports he had defected or been shot trying to flee.

Hundreds of security forces and armed members of President Saddam Hussein’s Baath party deployed throughout Baghdad today, taking up positions in the city and on its southern approaches as the Bush ultimatum for the Iraqi leader to leave or face war drew closer.

Armed members of President Saddam Hussein’s Baath party fanned out across Baghdad in a show of force today while other residents hunkered down before a US ultimatum expires for the Iraqi leader to leave Iraq or face war.

Intelligence reports indicate there is a high risk Iraq would use chemical weapons during a US-led war to topple President Saddam Hussein, Pentagon officials have warned.

On the brink of war, British Prime Minister Tony Blair will fly to the Azores Islands in the Atlantic to confer with President Bush and the Spanish premier on Iraq.

Iran today called for Iraqi elections supervised by the United Nations as part of a bid to avert war in the neighbouring country.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair faced an anti-war revolt by his own backers, while French President Jacques Chirac won broad support for resisting war on Iraq yesterday.

UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix yesterday said Iraq must begin destroying its Al-Samoud missiles by Saturday, rejecting Baghdad’s bid for more time to hold technical talks.

Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has ordered Iraq to destroy dozens of its missiles with ranges that violate UN limits, and gave Baghdad a March 1 deadline to begin the demolition.

THE United States said it has massed enough troops in the Gulf to attack Iraq, and Turkey appeared to come round yesterday to letting its territory be used to launch part of the expected assault.

Iraq has allowed another flight by a US U-2 spy plane as President Saddam Hussein’s government sought to convince the world that it is co-operating with UN weapons inspectors.

WHAT do a priest, Miss Germany, a spiritual healer and a diehard communist all have in common?

An American U-2 surveillance plane has made its first flight over Iraq in support of the current UN inspection mission, marking another concession by President Saddam Hussein’s regime to stave off a US-led attack.