A roadside bomb has killed two Shiite pilgrims and wounded eight south of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

Four explosions struck Shiite neighbourhoods in Iraq’s capital Baghdad today, killing 13 people and injuring dozens.

A wave of 16 bombings ripped across Baghdad today, killing at least 69 people in the worst violence in Iraq for months.

A wave of bombings in Baghdad killed at least 57 people and injured 200 more today.

Iraq’s Sunni vice president wanted by the Shiite-led government for allegedly ordering hit squads against government officials has said he is innocent of any charges.

IRAQ’S Shiite-led government has issued an arrest warrant for vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi, the country’s highest ranking Sunni official, on terrorism charges.

Saddam Hussein’s notorious cousin “Chemical Ali” was convicted today of crimes against humanity, receiving a death sentence for his involvement in one of the worst poison gas attacks ever against civilians – one of several he faces.

Iraq politicians were today considering postponing national elections by at least 45 days after only just meeting a last-minute deadline to approve new voting rules.

Iraq’s vice president vetoed part of a key law today that could delay national elections due in January.

Iraq’s prime minister said today that the full withdrawal of US combat troops from cities and towns was a message that his country was ready to take over its own security, even as he appealed for national unity after a week of attacks left more than 250 people dead.

The Iraqi government is refusing to execute Saddam Hussein’s henchman and cousin known as “Chemical Ali” unless the executions of two other associates are also approved.

The Iraqi government is considering pardons for several thousand people convicted of insurgency-related offences as a move towards national reconciliation, Iraqi officials said today.

Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki warned today that carving up his country into self-ruled regions could lead to more strife and the country’s break-up.

A car bomb today ripped through a Kirkuk bus terminal that serves travellers to Iraq’s Kurdish region, killing eight people and wounding 26, according to a police spokesman.

The Iraqi president today raised objections to the planned execution of Saddam Hussein’s former defence minister, who is due to be hanged with two other former regime officials for their roles in a massacre of Kurds.

American troops battled with Shiite gunmen today in Baghdad, killing at least eight in pre-dawn fighting, the US military said.

A mortar barrage slammed into a mainly Shiite east Baghdad neighbourhood today, killing 12 and wounding 31, police said.

Iraq’s prime minister and president today announced a new alliance of moderate Shiites and Kurds, saying Sunni moderates refused to join but the door remained open to them.

Iraq’s prime minister called a crisis conference in a bid to reach open a dialogue tomorrow among Iraq’s divided factions, to shore up his shaky government and unstick the stalled political process.

A car bomb struck revellers celebrating in Baghdad after Iraq’s soccer victory in the Asian Cup today, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 30.

Iraq’s largest Sunni Arab bloc today said it has suspended its membership of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s coalition government, dealing a serious blow to the Shiite leader’s efforts to achieve national reconciliation.

Iraq’s beleaguered prime minister Nouri al-Maliki today warned against “conspiracies” in foreign capitals against his government.

A suicide car bomber flattened a restaurant in a busy market in the Shiite holy city of Kufa this morning, killing at least 16 people and wounding 70 in an attack sure to further enflame tensions between Iraq’s Sunni and Shiite populations.

Iraq’s vice president arrived in Syria today for talks ahead of Saturday’s conference in Baghdad of world powers and Iraq’s neighbours.

US and Iraqi forces staged raids in Baghdad’s main Shiite militant stronghold today as part of politically-sensitive forays into areas loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

IRAQ’S Shi’ite vice president escaped an apparent assassination attempt yesterday after a bomb exploded in municipal offices where he was making a speech, knocking him down with the force of the blast that left at least 10 people dead.

The US military is planning to move a brigade of troops into Kuwait in what could be the first step of a short-term surge of American forces into Iraq to stabilise the violence.

President George Bush will meet his defence experts today to thrash out the nuts and bolts of his yet-to-be-revealed Iraq strategy plan.

US President George W Bush today opened three days of intensive consultations on Iraq, aiming to reverse the course of the nearly four-year-old war and energise his final two years in office.