A car bomb exploded in a Shiite holy city and 13 members of one Shiite family were gunned down north-east of the capital today in a surge of attacks that killed at least 30 people despite heightened security aimed at curbing sectarian violence following the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine.

Gunmen broke into the house of a Shiite family north-east of Baghdad today, killing 13 people, police said.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair last night vowed to see through the job in Iraq after the British armed forces death toll reached 100.

GUERRILLAS killed 10 Iraqi policemen and soldiers in attacks north of Baghdad yesterday, while the capital itself was rocked by five major explosions that left at least eight dead.

SUNNI-LED insurgents killed 11 Iraqi security forces and wounded 14 in two separate attacks yesterday, as Shiites began celebrating a major Muslim holiday. Al-Qaida in Iraq threatened more attacks on diplomats here.

Sunni-led insurgents firing mortars and guns attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint in northern Iraq today, killing six policemen and wounding 10, an official said.

A joint US-Iraqi offensive has killed some 50 insurgents so far in battles that raged today around a blistering hot frontier town in the American military’s latest campaign to stop foreign fighters from pouring through neighbouring Syria.

Two US Army soldiers were killed and one was wounded during a small arms skirmish with insurgents while transporting a detainee north of Baghdad, the military said today.

FOUR American and four Italian military personnel were killed in separate aircraft crashes, military officials said yesterday, as Iraq’s prime minister condemned the arrest of a top Sunni political leader by US troops.

Separate air crashes killed four American and four Italian troops, officials said today, and the governor of Anbar province was killed during clashes between US forces and the insurgents who abducted him three weeks ago.

THE Iraqi government is preparing to ring Baghdad with tens of thousands of security forces to curb the rampant insurgency.

Two US soldiers were killed when their helicopter was shot down and crashed in central Iraq, the military said today, as the government prepared to ring Baghdad with tens of thousands of security forces to curb the rampant insurgency.

INSURGENTS detonated a suicide car bomb at police headquarters in the Iraqi town of Baiji yesterday, killing at least 10 people, and shot dead eight Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint ahead of January 30 polls.

Gunmen killed eight Iraqi National Guards at a checkpoint today, and eight people died in a suicide car bombing at a police station north of Baghdad, as insurgents struck at security forces ahead of national elections.

US troops have staged a series of raids in northern and central Iraq, arresting dozens, as insurgents stepped up their attacks two weeks ahead of national elections, ambushing a car carrying a female candidate and killing 24 people in other assaults.

US soldiers battled insurgents northeast of Baghdad today in clashes that killed more than 50 people.

Militants using Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades stormed two police stations today near the central Iraqi town of Baqouba, police said.

AMERICAN and Iraqi forces clashed with insurgents north of Baghdad early yesterday, killing 13 Iraqi militants, the US military said.

Two people were shot dead today when rebels clashed with US forces near the Iraqi city of Baqouba for the second time in as many days, US military officials said.