The Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea says the deployment of 400 Irish troops to Chad is on track.

Roadside bombers killed seven US troops in one day, four of them in a single blast near Baghdad, raising to at least 28 the number of American soldiers killed this week.

The US military today announced the deaths of 14 American troops, including five killed in a single roadside bombing and one whose vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Three suicide bombers driving chlorine-laden trucks struck in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar province, killing two policemen and forcing about 350 Iraqi civilians and six US troops to seek treatment for exposure to the gas, the military said today.

Multiple suicide bombings struck areas in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar province, and about 350 Iraqi civilians and six US troops had to be treated for exposure to chlorine gas, the military said today.

The US-led coalition today said it would investigate an attack on one of its bases in southern Afghanistan that killed a US and a Canadian soldier, including whether any of the casualties were caused by friendly fire.

A suicide car bomber killed 21 people in northern Iraq yesterday after insurgents lured police to the scene by shooting an officer, officials said.

A roadside bomb wounded six American troops in the same mountainous area where a commando team was ambushed and a special forces helicopter shot down last month, the US military said today.

A CAR bomb yesterday exploded near a Baghdad junior high school for girls, killing six people.

A US general said today that 31 American troops and six Iraqi soldiers have been killed so far in the battle to retake the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

The United States will not give Iraq a veto over US troops, but will work with the government as partners, secretary of state Colin Powell has said.

ALLIED troops fought bloody battles against an enemy they did not expect in Iraq yesterday Shi'ites who were downtrodden during Saddam Hussein's brutal regime.

TURKEY yesterday said it was preparing to open ports and airbases to 62,000 US troops for a possible invasion of Iraq once it concludes a deal with Washington on financial support and military co-operation.

Hundreds of US Marines have arrived in Derry City to commemorate its place in Second World War history.