Police ordered a curfew today in Shiite holy city of Karbala and told more than one million pilgrims to leave after two days of violence claimed least 26 lives during a Shiite religious festival.

“IF YOU hesitate, you come home in a box and I didn’t want to come home in a box,” said Mario Lozano, the American soldier being tried for murder after fatally shooting an Italian military intelligence agent at a checkpoint in Baghdad in 2005.

A US soldier went on trial in absentia today in the shooting death of an Italian intelligence agent at a checkpoint in Iraq two years ago, a case that strained relations between Rome and Washington.

A mortar attack hit Baghdad’s airport compound today, shattering some office windows but causing no injuries, witnesses and airport officials said.

An Italian judge today ordered a US soldier to stand trial for the fatal shooting of an Italian intelligence agent at a checkpoint in Baghdad, the prosecutor said.

Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Iraqi workers to Baghdad airport today, showering them with bullets and killing nine people.

US President George Bush arrived at Amman airport tonight to begin a two-day visit with Jordan’s king and Iraq’s prime minister for talks on finding a way to calm the sectarian violence that threatens to tear Iraq apart.

US President George Bush met newly-named Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in a surprise visit to Baghdad today to discuss the next steps in the troubled three-year-old war.

US president George Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq today to meet newly-named prime minister Nouri Maliki and discuss the next steps in the troubled, three-year-old conflict.

The body of the only American among four Christian peace activists kidnapped late last year was found near a west Baghdad railway line with gunshots to his head and chest, Iraqi police said today.

Bombings and shootings yesterday killed at least 17 people around Iraq, while President Jalal Talabani issued a decree ordering the new parliament to hold its first session on March 19.

A suicide truck bomb today ripped through a line of vehicles waiting at a checkpoint in Fallujah and killed at least seven Iraqi civilians.

THE US will close Abu Ghraib prison, probably within three months, and transfer some 4,500 prisoners to other jails in Iraq, a military spokesman said yesterday.

Three men threatened Saddam Hussein’s chief lawyer as he boarded a plane from Baghdad to Jordan today, and they were removed from the flight, the Iraqi lawyer and his colleague, ex-US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, said.

Three men threatened Saddam Hussein’s chief lawyer as he boarded a plane from Baghdad to Jordan today, and they were removed from the flight, said the Iraqi lawyer and his colleague, ex-US. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

Iraqi troops will take over security at Baghdad Airport, replacing the British company which stopped working today in a pay dispute with the government, a top Iraqi official said.

An indefinite curfew was imposed Wednesday for all vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, following an attack on a US convoy in the area, the US military and Iraqi police said.

A senior Baghdad International Airport official was abducted today by gunmen, along with his driver and another companion, police said.

THE first criminal case has been filed against Saddam Hussein.

Saddam Hussein and three others will stand trial in the 1982 massacre of Shiite villagers north of Baghdad, a senior judge announced today.

THE Iraqi justice minister yesterday accused the US of delaying the interrogation of Saddam Hussein.

FREED French journalist Florence Aubenas, looking thinner but radiant after five months as a captive in Iraq, arrived home to a joyful welcome last night and told of being held in a cellar, tied, blindfolded and given little water.

Four bombings, including three suicide attacks within seven minutes, killed at least nine people, including at least three Iraqi soldiers, in northern Iraq early today, while the government announced it has detained nearly 900 suspected militants in a two-week sweep in Baghdad.

A suicide bomber targeting American forces exploded his vehicle near the heavily guarded main checkpoint to Baghdad International Airport today, Iraqi police said.

An explosion has occurred near the main checkpoint to Baghdad International Airport today, the US military said.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told parliament today he disagreed with some of the US military’s conclusions into the March shooting death of an Italian agent in Baghdad, but insisted those differences won’t affect Italy’s friendship with Washington or the deployment of Italian troops in Iraq.

Italy is expected to pick apart US conclusions on the shooting by American soldiers of an Italian agent in Baghdad, challenging a report that cleared US troops of any wrongdoing in the incident.

ITALIAN opposition parties branded a report that cleared US soldiers of blame for the killing of an Italian agent in Iraq an insult and urged the government to press for a fuller investigation.

A US military investigation into the accidental shooting death of an Italian intelligence officer in Baghdad is expected to conclude that the American soldiers generally followed instructions as they fired on the agent’s approaching car, a senior US defence official said.

Demanding answers and disputing Washington’s version of events, Italy’s premier said an Italian intelligence agent who was shot to death by US troops in Baghdad had informed the proper authorities he was heading to the airport with a freed hostage.

The car carrying an Italian intelligence officer who was killed by US fire in Baghdad was not speeding and was not ordered to stop as American officials have indicated, Italy’s foreign minister said today.

ITALIAN hostage Giuliana Sgrena, shot and wounded after being freed in Iraq claimed that US forces may have deliberately targeted her because Washington opposed Italy’s policy of dealing with kidnappers.

The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has protested strongly to the US ambassador in Rome about the fatal shooting by US soldiers of an Italian security agent and the wounding of an Italian journalist who had been held hostage in Iraq.

Iraq’s interim president said that tens of thousands of people may have been unable to vote in the country’s historic weekend election because some polling places – including those in Sunni Arab areas – ran out of ballots.

Insurgents staged attacks against US forces, schools to be used as polling stations and political party offices today, as they pressed a bloody campaign to undermine Iraq’s weekend elections.

A car bomb exploded early today near a US military convoy on the road leading to Baghdad airport, Iraqi police said.

The Iraqi government plans to reopen Baghdad International Airport to civilian flights on Monday, the office of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said.

THE bodies of about 50 Iraqi soldiers were discovered yesterday after apparently having been killed in an ambush by insurgents.

Iraqi Airways resumed international flights with a plane taking off today from neighbouring Jordan.

Saddam Hussein should be bailed in Europe while he awaits trial, his lawyer said today.

Insurgents fired at least 10 mortar rounds at a US base on the outskirts of Baghdad International Airport today, wounding 11 soldiers, two of them seriously, and starting a fire that burned for well over an hour.

Insurgents fired at least eight mortar rounds at a US base on the outskirts of Baghdad International Airport today, wounding six soldiers, two of them critically, and starting a fire that burned for well over an hour.

A US Air Force C-130 transport plane was hit by small arms fire after taking off from Baghdad International Airport today, killing at least one person aboard.

A US Air Force C-130 transport plane was hit by small arms fire after taking off from Baghdad International Airport today.