US and Iraqi forces swept into Baghdad’s Sadr City Shiite slum in an early morning raid today, killing four Iraqis, wounding eight and detaining five, police said.

At least 12 people were killed in violence around Iraq today, while authorities found the decapitated corpses of seven people dumped north of Baghdad in what appeared to be a sectarian revenge killing.

Kidnapped Sunni MP Tayseer al-Mashhadani was released today after being held for nearly two months, an adviser to the Iraqi Prime Minister said.

Violence killed at least 34 people in Iraq, including a US soldier, as efforts to finish choosing the new cabinet bogged down yesterday in a web of conflicting interests.

IRAQI Shi’ite politicians agreed yesterday to nominate Jawad al-Maliki as prime minister, replacing the incumbent in a bid to clear the way for a long-delayed new government.

Leaders of Iraq’s main political blocs began a round of marathon meetings today with the US ambassador in an attempt to reach agreement on a broad-based government.

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.

THOUSANDS of angry Shi’ites rallied yesterday in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum against a spree of attacks that killed almost 200 people and to protest what they claim was American backing for Sunni Arabs politicians who have supported insurgent groups.

Thousands of angry Shiites today rallied in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum against a spree of attacks that killed almost 200 people and to protest what they claim was American backing for Sunni Arabs politicians who have supported insurgent groups.

Iraqis voted in a historic parliamentary election today, with strong turnout reported in Sunni Arab areas that had shunned the election last January.

Campaigning came to a stop today around Iraq to give the country’s 15 million voters an opportunity to reflect before deciding who will govern their country for the next four years.

IRAQ’S election for its first full-term parliament since Saddam Hussein’s overthrow began with special groups voting yesterday.

Four aid workers, including two Canadians, have been kidnapped in Iraq, a Canadian official said tonight, while Iraqi police have arrested eight Sunni Arabs for allegedly plotting to assassinate the investigating judge in the case against Saddam Hussein.

Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms burst into the home of a Sunni Arab sheikh today, killing him, three of his sons and a son-in-law in what police believe may have been aimed at discouraging Sunnis from participating in next month’s election.

Iraqi officials are investigating “unusually high” numbers of “yes” votes in about a dozen provinces during the landmark referendum on a new constitution, raising questions about possible ballot fraud.

US warplanes and helicopters bombed two western Iraq villages, killing an estimated 70 militants near a site where five American soldiers died in a weekend roadside blast, the military said today.

SUNNI insurgents determined to derail this weekend's constitutional referendum attacked the largest Sunni Arab political party yesterday, bombing and burning offices and the home of one of its leaders.

US and UN officials urged the Shiite-led government to reverse last-minute changes to voting rules for a referendum on Iraq’s new constitution and head off a threatened Sunni boycott.

President George Bush today asked Americans to be patient with the military mission in Iraq as he faced a weekend of boisterous anti-war rallies planned in his hometown of Crawford in Texas and a new survey showing less than half of those polled supported his Iraq policy.

ANGERED by Shi’ite calls for a federal region, Sunni clerics urged followers yesterday to vote against the constitution if it contains measures they believe would divide the country.

A suicide car bomber drove up to a US vehicle crowded with Iraqi children and detonated his vehicle today, killing one American soldier and at least seven Iraqi children, the US military said.

A suicide car bomb killed an Iraqi Shiite politician and three others near Baghdad as they were heading to parliament today, an attack likely to further fuel tensions between the minority Sunni Arabs and the country’s Shiite majority.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of morning roll call today outside traffic police headquarters in the northern Kurdish city of Irbil, killing at least 20 and wounding 50 more, police said.

A suicide bomber wearing a belt packed with explosives blew himself up outside a bank in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk today, killing 23 people, including pensioners waiting for checks and child street vendors.

Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s spokesman said today that the government was determined to hold January 30 elections on time despite calls by Sunni Muslim politicians to delay the balloting for six months because of deteriorating security.

A fragile ceasefire held between Sunni fighters and US marines in the besieged city of Fallujah, where doctors said more than 600 Iraqis, including civilians, were killed in the past week.