AT LEAST 40 people were killed when four bombs ripped through Shi’ite areas of Baghdad last night — the worst violence the capital has seen in months — Iraqi officials said.

A rapid-fire series of explosions in and around Baghdad killed 16 people today, including 10 people who died when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of police officers, officials said.

AN Iraqi court convicted a British man and sentenced him to 20 years in prison over the shooting dead of two contractors, making him the first Westerner convicted in an Iraqi court since the 2003 US invasion.

Protesters calling for a provincial governor to resign blocked a bridge in the southern Iraqi city of Basra today, as demonstrations against government continued across Iraq.

At least six people were killed and 35 injured in two separate bomb attacks in Baghdad today, Iraqi police and health officials said.

At least 12 people in Baghdad were killed by bombs targeting hundreds of thousands of pilgrims taking part in the final day of a Shiite religious holiday today.

SHI’ITE extremists lobbed more rockets or mortar shells at the US protected Green Zone yesterday as American and Iraqi troops engaged militants in the most violent clashes in weeks in Baghdad.

The US military says an Apache helicopter has accidentally destroyed one of its own armoured vehicles in eastern Baghdad.

The US death toll in Iraq has topped 4,000 after a roadside bomb killed four soldiers in Baghdad.

Fifteen Iraqi police were killed and 27 were wounded as they tried to defuse a number of rockets.

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 US attack killed 19 insurgents and 15 civilians, including nine children, in Iraq - one of the heaviest civilian death tolls in an American operation in recent months.

A roadside bomb rocked an eastern Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood this morning, killing at least 13 people and injuring 25 others when it exploded next to buses used by morning commuters, police and hospital officials said.

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.

Four US soldiers died today from wounds suffered in a combat explosion in Diyala province north of Baghdad, the American military reported.

Four American soldiers were killed during combat in Baghdad, including three in a single roadside bombing, the US military announced today.

Three US soldiers were killed and six wounded by a sophisticated armour-piercing bomb in eastern Baghdad, the US military said in Iraq today.

A car bomb struck revellers celebrating in Baghdad after Iraq’s soccer victory in the Asian Cup today, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 30.

Dozens of Shiite villagers in northern Iraq were massacred by Sunni extremists, officials said today, while car bombs killed at least a dozen people in Baghdad.

US troops battled Iraqi police suspected of links to Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen today, killing six.

The body of an Iraqi newspaper editor kidnapped last week was found today in Baghdad, police said.

Four US soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed in separate attacks in Iraq, including three in a single roadside bombing, the military said today.

AT LEAST 118 Shi’ite pilgrims were slaughtered in attacks across Iraq yesterday, sparking fears of reprisals that could frustrate efforts by Iraqi and US forces to quell sectarian violence.

Iraqi forces today detained a senior Health Ministry official accused of corruption and helping to funnel millions of pounds to Shiite militiamen blamed for much of the recent sectarian violence in the capital, the US military said.

Two minivans exploded near a university as students were leaving after classes today in a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, killing at least 31 people and wounding dozens, police said.

A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi-police patrol killed two pedestrians in eastern Baghdad today, police said.

Sunni Muslims, angered by the execution of Saddam Hussein and the hurried and undignified way his hanging was carried out, have taken to the streets of Iraq in mainly peaceful demonstrations.

A suicide bomber blew up among a group of police volunteers in Baghdad today, killing at least 14 people and wounding 21 others, police said.

Two suicide car bombers killed at least 12 people in separate attacks across the Iraqi capital today, police said.

A series of attacks by suspected insurgents using guns, bombs and mortar shells killed a total of 13 Iraqis in Baghdad today.

A pair of suicide bombs ripped through a crowd of would-be police recruits in Baghdad on today, killing at least 35.

Iraq’s Interior Ministry has charged 57 employees, including a police general, with human rights abuses over the alleged torture of hundreds of detainees at a prison in eastern Baghdad, a ministry spokesman said today.

A car bomb killed three people and wounded five others in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighbourhood early today.

Eight bodies with signs of torture were found in Baghdad today, more apparent victims of the sectarian death squads that roam the capital.

Seven bodies with signs of torture were found in Baghdad today, more apparent victims of the sectarian death squads that roam the capital.

The bodies of 13 men, apparently victims of sectarian death squads, were found scattered across eastern Baghdad today.

IRAQI Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki yesterday called for Shi’ites and Sunnis to use the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to put aside their differences, while authorities reported that at least 20 people were killed in violence across the country.

At least 20 people were killed and 41 injured today in scattered violence around Iraq, including a mortar attack on the Health Ministry followed by a car bombing targeting a police patrol.

Six people were killed and 25 injured today in scattered violence around Iraq, including a mortar attack on the Health Ministry and a car bombing targeting a police patrol in Baghdad.

A car bomb targeting a police patrol in Baghdad killed two people and wounded 13 earlier today, police said.

Iraqi police today found the blindfolded bodies of three people dumped in two separate parts of eastern Baghdad, while the US military command in Iraq said two American soldiers had been killed.

A parked car bomb targeting a police patrol in eastern Baghdad today killed at least eight people and wounded another 17.

A car bomb exploded in eastern Baghdad today, killing at least 11 people and wounding another 58.

A minibus explosion outside an army recruiting centre, a parked car bomb in eastern Baghdad and a string of other attacks today left at least 29 Iraqis dead and more than a dozen wounded.