Military prosecutors have granted immunity to at least seven US Marines who may be called to testify at the trial of fellow troops accused over the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha.

Gunmen killed a Shiite tribal sheikh linked to British forces in a drive-by shooting today in the southern city of Basra, while two US Marines were reported killed in fighting in a volatile province west of Baghdad.

Four US Marines and one Navy sailor have been killed in fighting in Iraq’s volatile Anbar province, the military said today.

FOUR US Marines refused to answer rape charges against them yesterday in the Philippines, prompting the judge to enter a not guilty plea for them in a case that has stirred emotions about the US military presence in the ex-American colony.

Aerial photographs spotted what is believed to be the roof of a Philippines elementary school swamped by a landslide, and rescue workers will undertake a risky mission to check it, the provincial governor said today.

A roadside bomb blast has killed two US Marines near the western Anbar province city of Fallujah, the military said today.

A Black Hawk helicopter believed to be carrying 12 people crashed in northern Iraq and killed everyone aboard, while five US Marines were slain in separate weekend attacks, the military said today.

Five US Marines have been killed by small arms fire and roadside bombs, the military said today.

Four US Marines were charged with rape in the Philippines today.

More than 2,000 patients have been treated by US Marines and nearly 9 million kilos of humanitarian aid has been unloaded by the Air Force in relief operations in earthquake-ravaged Pakistani Kashmir, the US military announced.

BOMB blasts killed six US Marines in western Iraq yesterday and US forces killed 29 militants in offensives aimed at uprooting al-Qaida insurgents ahead of the country’s vote on a new constitution.

AL-QAIDA in Iraq has urged supporters to intensify attacks on US and Iraqi forces during the holy month of Ramadan, which began yesterday, and called for a boycott of next week’s constitutional referendum.

Fourteen US Marines and a civilian interpreter were killed early today in western Iraq, the US command said.

SIX car bombs targeted US and Iraqi troops across Baghdad yesterday, killing as many as 20 people, and the military said two US Marines died the day before in a roadside bombing near the Jordanian border.

A suicide car bomber and gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying female US Marines in Fallujah, killing two US Marines and leaving another four American troops presumed dead, the military said.

Five US Marines died from wounds sustained in a roadside bomb blast in western Iraq, the military said today.

Iraqi police battled with and killed two gunmen in the oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk early today, a day after a suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded nearly 100 after striking outside a bank as elderly people waited to cash their pension cheques.

Militants killed five US Marines, and authorities found 21 bodies near the Syrian border, where American and Iraqi troops bore down in two recent major operations aimed at crushing a tenacious insurgency.

Five US Marines have been killed in a roadside bomb blast in western Iraq, the military said today.

Two US Marines were killed and 14 wounded when an explosive device hit their troop transport vehicle during a large American offensive being fought against suspected insurgents in western Iraq, the military said today.

Using car bombs and a man with explosives strapped to his body, insurgents killed more than 60 people in three Iraqi cities today, police said.

A suicide bomber killed 13 people in an attack today next to the heavily fortified area in central Baghdad housing the interim government and US embassy, while eight US Marines died in combat in western Iraq.

Seven US Marines were killed in two separate incidents in Iraq’s restive Anbar province, a vast region comprising the battleground cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, the military said today.

A MASSIVE car bomb exploded on the outskirts of Fallujah yesterday, killing seven US Marines and wounding several others in the deadliest attack on Americans since May.

A ROADSIDE bomb killed three US Marines and wounded two others yesterday in the first fatal attack on American forces since the transfer of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government, US officials said.

US Marines began pulling back from some positions around the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah today, according to unconfirmed reports.

A rebel sniper shot and wounded two US Marines patrolling an industrial zone in the besieged city of Fallujah today and an ensuing gun battle left at least one of the insurgents dead.

Up to a dozen US Marines have been killed in new fighting in Iraq, the Pentagon said tonight.

American forces were today expected to step up their hunt for the remnants of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Baghdad, after four US Marines were seriously injured in a suicide attack in the centre of the Iraqi capital.

Jubilant crowds welcomed US Marines in eastern Baghdad today as Saddam’s reign appeared to be ending.

US Marines are today on a mission to capture Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, thought to be hiding in the remote mountains of central Afghanistan.

Several US Marines are injured after an explosion at Kandahar airport.

Hundreds of US marines have occupied Kandahar airport in the biggest deployment since the military set up base in the region.

Armoured convoys of US Marines are patrolling near Kandahar, after tribal warriors said they are determined to take its airport and then seize the city itself.

Anti-Taliban tribal fighters have pushed to within five miles of the Taliban home base of Kandahar.