A STRING of bombings in Iraqi cities - including one by a man with explosives strapped to his body - killed more than 60 people and wounded more than 100 yesterday.

A string of bombings in Iraqi cities – including one by a man with explosives strapped to his body – killed more than 60 people and wounded more than 100 today as US troops pushed on in an offensive aimed at followers of Iraq’s most-wanted terrorist.

US FORCES hunting down followers of Iraq’s most wanted terrorist pushed into a lawless region north of the Euphrates River near the Syrian border yesterday.

US forces searched a hospital in central Iraq after receiving a tip from an informant about possible terrorist activities there related to Iraq’s most wanted militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an official said today.

US aircraft blasted the rebel stronghold of Fallujah three times in 24 hours over the weekend in a concerted effort to hit militants loyal to guerrilla chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

American troops have arrested a senior commander of the US-trained Iraqi National Guard for alleged ties to insurgents.

One person was injured when mortar rounds hit a checkpoint near the Baghdad convention centre where delegates to Iraq’s new National Council met for the first time today inside the heavily guarded Green Zone.