Militants have downed an Iraqi army helicopter and killed nearly a dozen security forces in overnight clashes in what appeared to be an al-Qaida surge to retake one of its former strongholds in Iraq.

Bombings and shootings around Iraq killed 22 people and wounded more than 50 today, authorities said.

Five people have been killed in an attack on the home of a government employee, Iraqi police said today.

Seventeen people have been killed in two separate attacks in a province of north-eastern Iraq which was once an al-Qaida stronghold, officials said today.

BOMB blasts ripped through more than a dozen Iraqi cities yesterday morning, killing 60 security forces and civilians in the worst attack this year.

Bombs ripped through more than a dozen Iraqi cities today killing scores of people in a wave of violence that shattered what had been a relatively peaceful holy month of Ramadan.

Frequent bombings, assassinations and a resurgence in violence by Shiite militias have made Iraq more dangerous now than it was just a year ago, a US government watchdog concludes in a report released today.

Iraqi forces have stormed a settlement of Iranian exiles near the two nations’ border that prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has long sought to expel.

Ten soldiers were killed and 29 other people injured when a suicide bomber blew up his booby-trapped car outside an Iraqi army battalion headquarters in the country’s east today.

Iraqi police said today they have arrested a local official on terrorism charges after finding a large amount of explosives in his home.

The death toll in a car bombing at an open-air market in a Shiite town north east of Baghdad has risen to 30, Iraqi police and morgue officials said.

At least 22 people have been killed and more than 50 injured in a car bomb explosion in an open-air market north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said today.

Three suicide bombings killed six people and wounded 20 others in the city of Baqouba today, just days before Iraqis head to the polls in key parliamentary elections.

The fate of 36 members of an Iranian opposition group has taken another turn after Iraq’s chief prosecutor ordered them released.

TONY Blair will be called to give evidence to the Iraq war inquiry, its chairman confirmed yesterday.

Iraq opened up some of its massive oil and gas fields to foreign firms today, kicking off a landmark licensing round it hopes will help fuel its post-war reconstruction efforts.

An Iraqi woman today confessed to recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers.

A female suicide bomber blew herself up in Iraq today among police officers who were celebrating the release of a comrade from US custody, killing at least 22 people, Iraqi officials said.

ROADSIDE bombs killed five Iraqi policemen and injured eight others north of Baghdad yesterday, an Iraqi official said.

A TEENAGE Iraqi girl wearing a vest packed with explosives turned herself in rather than go through with a suicide bombing in a violence-torn city north of Baghdad, police and the US military said.

Iraqi police said a female suicide bomber blew herself up in front of a government compound north-east of Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 35.

Two suicide bombers struck a wedding convoy today in a crowded market district northeast of Baghdad as bystanders cheered it on, killing at least 35 people and wounding 65, officials said.

American troops and Iraqis unearthed 37 bodies in a mass grave northeast of Baghdad today, the US military said.

US presidential hopeful John McCain arrived in Baghdad today for an unexpected visit with Iraqi and US diplomatic and military officials.

A car bomb in a commercial district of central Baghdad killed 18 people and wounded dozens more today.

A US military helicopter fired a guided missile to kill a wanted al-Qaida in Iraq leader from Saudi Arabia who was responsible for the bombing deaths of five American soldiers, a spokesman said today.

Two women suicide bombers who killed nearly 80 people in Baghdad today were Down’s Syndrome victims exploited by al-Qaida.

A women wearing a suicide vest blew herself up near a popular market and a Shiite mosque in restive Diyala province north of the capital Baghdad today, killing eight civilians and wounding seven others, police said.

US and Iraqi forces launched a major operation today to strike against al-Qaida in Iraq and other extremists, an American commander announced.

A suicide bomber targeting a gathering of Iraqi soldiers and civilians commemorating Army Day killed at least 11 people in central Baghdad today, police said.

A roadside bomb explosion struck a passing minibus north of Baghdad today, killing six people and wounding another three, the Joint Co-ordination Centre for the province said.

THE bodies of a Sunni policeman and four of his family members were found on the outskirts of a village north of Baghdad yesterday morning, just hours after they were abducted from their home by gunmen, authorities said.

HUNDREDS of people, including many children, chanted slogans praising Saddam Hussein as they tossed flowers on to his tomb one year after he was executed.

Hundreds of people, including many children, chanted slogans praising Saddam Hussein as they tossed flowers on to his tomb one year after he was executed.

A CAR bomb left at least 14 people dead in Baghdad yesterday, while US troops chasing extremists in one of their last remaining bastions in central Iraq said they killed five al-Qaida gunmen.

Soldiers in Iraq have uncovered a suspected al-Qaida torture chamber.

A woman suicide bomber blew herself up outside the offices of an anti-al-Qaida group in Iraq today killing at least 15 people in one of the country’s most violent provinces.

A woman suicide bomber blew herself up outside the offices of an anti-al-Qaida group in Iraq today killing at least 15 people, police said.

Dozens of suspected al-Qaida militants stormed an Iraqi Shiite village north of Baghdad today, killing at least 13 people and torching homes, police said.

A car bomb today ripped through a Kirkuk bus terminal that serves travellers to Iraq’s Kurdish region, killing eight people and wounding 26, according to a police spokesman.

US troops in Iraq have killed at least 52 suspected insurgents and detained 47 over the past week, the military said today.

The rate of deaths of US forces in Iraq fell to its lowest for more than a year last month with a total of 63.

US aircraft killed more than 20 al-Qaida fighters who opened fire on an American air patrol north-west of Baghdad, the military reported today.

Three US soldiers were killed today following an explosion near their patrol northeast of Baghdad, military officials said.