Iraqi forces have captured the prime suspect in last year’s kidnapping of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, the US military said today.

Iraq’s most influential Shiite political leader today called for Sunni-Shiite unity as religious figures sought to calm passions and pull the nation from the brink of civil war after the bombing of a Shiite shrine two days ago and a wave of deadly reprisal attacks.

Iraqi police and soldiers fanned out today to enforce an extraordinary daytime curfew in Baghdad and three provinces in a bid to halt the wave of sectarian violence that has killed about 120 people since the bombing of one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines.

Nine days after Iraq’s landmark constitutional referendum, the Election Commission today said its audit of the results was continuing in a key province that would determine the final outcome.

The number of US troops killed in Iraq has topped 1,500 today after the military announced the deaths of three Americans, while car bombs targeting Iraqi security forces killed at least four people in separate attacks.

IRAQI officials said yesterday Syrian authorities had captured Saddam Hussein’s half-brother and 29 other officials of the deposed dictator’s Ba’ath Party in Syria and handed them over to Iraq in an apparent goodwill gesture.

Five thousand US marines, British troops and Iraqi commandos launched a new offensive in the "Triangle of Death" south of Baghdad today.

A video of a Polish woman, kidnapped in Baghdad last night, was shown on Al-Jazeera television today.

A video of a Polish woman, kidnapped in Baghdad last night, was shown on Al-Jazeera television today.

With fewer than 100 days until power is handed over to Iraqis, the country’s US administrator today established several Western-style institutions that are expected to put a moderating influence on the fledgling government that takes over June 30.