AL-QAIDA militants swept into the Yemeni town of Rada overnight and overran it within hours, marking a significant advance by the extremists towards the capital, officials said yesterday.

THE Iraqi television reporter jailed for throwing his shoes at former president George W Bush is expected to be released today after a day’s postponement, two of his brothers said yesterday, citing delays in processing his paperwork.

One of al-Qaida’s top commanders in Afghanistan, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed in Pakistan according to a website used by militant groups.

A roadside bomb rocked an eastern Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood early today, killing at least 11 people and injuring 19 others when it exploded next to buses used by morning commuters.

A man told a court that he learned about weapons and explosives and prepared for holy war at an al Qaida training camp allegedly attended by terror suspect Jose Padilla.

At least 45 people were killed when off-duty Shiite policemen went on a revenge spree against Sunnis in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar today.

DNA tests have confirmed that a man shot and killed by British forces in Iraq was the leading al-Qaida terrorist who embarrassed the US military by making an unprecedented escape from a maximum-security military prison in Afghanistan, the US command said today.

News of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s death trickled in to the US Marines camp outside the battle-scarred city of Fallujah today, bringing the troops a vague sense of satisfaction.

US troops in Iraq killed 10 insurgents – three of them wearing suicide vests - in a raid today as American forces stepped up the hunt for terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

AL-QAIDA in Iraq claimed yesterday that four Iraqis carried out the suicide bombings against three Amman hotels as police arrested 120 Jordanians and Iraqis in the hunt for anyone who might have aided them.

AL-QAIDA ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi declared war on Iraq’s landmark elections yesterday in a warning intended to scare away voters a week before they go to the polls amid a raging insurgency.

THREE bombs exploded at a neighbourhood celebration in western Baghdad yesterday, killing 35 children and seven adults, officials said.

A radical cleric whose loyalists continued to battle US troops today vowed to continue fighting and said he would not to budge from the holy city of Najaf.

A group linked to al-Qaida today claimed responsibility for a Baghdad suicide attack that targeted an Iraqi deputy minister, the second fatal bombing it has claimed in a week.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia today rejected claims made on Israeli television that a cement company owned by his family provided concrete for Israeli settlements and the Israeli West Bank barrier.

At least nine people died and dozens were wounded when an apparent suicide bomber blew up a bus in northern Israel during the rush hour today.

To Wolves fans the name of Sami Al-Jaber has probably long been forgotten, but to fanatical Saudi Arabia supporters he is just as big a hero to them as Steve Bull was at Molineux.

Alleged ‘‘shoe bomber’’ Richard Reid was considered a top security risk and had to remove his shoes for special screening before boarding a flight from Israel this summer.

President Bush today widened his financial assault on terrorism, naming an additional 39 individuals and organizations to have their assets frozen.