A car bomb has killed two civilians and wounded four more in eastern Baghdad on the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, the day after a series of co-ordinated attacks left scores dead, officials said.

At least 56 people have been killed and more than 200 others injured in a wave of bombings across Baghdad and nearby towns, Iraqi officials said today.

At least 12 people have been killed in a series of blasts that rocked central Baghdad and gunmen are locked in an apparently co-ordinated battle with security forces, officials say.

A suicide bomber crashed a car packed with explosives into one of the gates of Baghdad’s heavily guarded Green Zone today, killing seven people, including three security officers, Iraqi officials said.

A double bombing has struck at an upscale neighbourhood Iraq’s capital, killing at least 21 people.

Two explosions have been heard in central Baghdad as an Arab summit opened in the Iraqi capital.

A wave of bombings and shootings across eight Iraqi cities today, targeting police and Shiite pilgrims, killed 46 people.

Bombings across Iraq killed 44 people today, striking at police and Shiite pilgrims in a torrent of violence that officials had dreaded in the run-up to a meeting in Baghdad of the Arab world’s top leaders, which the government hoped would showcase the nation’s stability.

Twenty-one people were killed and nearly 100 others injured today when five bombs struck Shiite pilgrims during an important religious ritual for the Muslim sect.

Iraq’s prime minister says a bombing in the Green Zone earlier this week was an assassination attempt against him.

At least nine people, including five Iraqi soldiers, were killed when two car bombs exploded at a checkpoint outside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, Iraqi security officials said today.

Loach has never been afraid to take sides where other moviemakers, tackling a political story, fudge and quibble and show a fearful desire not to offend … the excellent Loach almost always goes for it.

A British security worker jailed for life for murdering two colleagues in Iraq is threatening to take his own life, his family said today.

THOUSANDS marched on government buildings and clashed with security forces in cities across Iraq yesterday, in the largest and most violent anti-government protests here since political unrest began spreading in the Arab world several weeks ago.

A British security contractor told an Iraqi court today that he was acting in self-defence when he shot two colleagues, claiming that they had threatened to kill him after a drunken brawl in Baghdad’s Green Zone.

A suicide bomber driving a minibus blew himself up in front of the Baghdad office of a popular Arabic news station today, killing six people, and burying a politician alive under the rubble of his collapsed home.

INSURGENTS bombed a polling station and lobbed grenades at voters yesterday, killing 36 people in attacks aimed at intimidating those taking part in an election that will determine whether the country can overcome the sectarian divisions that have plagued it since the 2003 US-led invasion.

Insurgents bombed a polling station and lobbed grenades at voters in Iraq today, killing 36 people in attacks aimed at intimidating those taking part in an election that will determine whether the country can overcome the sectarian divisions that have plagued it since the 2003 US-led invasion.

An entire family of eight were slaughtered in a sectarian attack at their home outside Baghdad today.

SUICIDE bombers struck near three hotels popular with Western journalists and businessmen yesterday just as Iraq announced the execution of Saddam Hussein’s notorious cousin known as “Chemical Ali”.

Three co-ordinated bomb blasts struck near hotels in central Baghdad killing at least 11 people today.

Officials said four people have been killed and several wounded in a series of explosions today near Baghdad’s heavily protected Green Zone.

IRAQI security forces conducted searches at checkpoints in the capital yesterday as authorities investigated the security failure that allowed two truck bombs to strike what was one of Baghdad’s safest areas and kill 155 people.

Iraqi hospital and police officials today raised the toll from Iraq’s deadliest bombing in two years to 155 people.

TWO powerful car bombs blew up outside the Justice Ministry and city government offices in downtown Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 147 people in the worst attack in more than two years.

Two powerful suicide car bombs blew up outside the Justice Ministry and city government offices in central Baghdad today, killing at least 136 people in the worst attack in more than two years.

A SERIES of blasts in Baghdad yesterday killed 95 people and wounded 536 in Iraq’s bloodiest day this year, renewing doubt over Iraqi forces’ ability to maintain security after US troops pulled out of urban areas.

Up to 100 people were feared dead in a wave of co-ordinated explosions across Baghdad today.

At least 60 people died and hundreds were injured in a series of co-ordinated bomb attacks on the Iraqi capital Baghdad today.

The Iraqi capital Baghdad was hit by a series of explosions today killing at least a dozen people and wounding more than 100.

IRAQI authorities have arrested a British contractor on murder charges over the shootings early yesterday of a British and an Australian contractor in Baghdad’s protected Green Zone.

A British contractor was arrested today after a fellow Briton and an Australian contractor were shot dead in Baghdad’s protected Green Zone.

A fresh wave of bombings swept the Baghdad area today as Iraq braced itself for more violence ahead of the planned withdrawal of US troops from major cities next week.

A truck bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque just after prayers today, killing at least 55 people and wounding nearly 200 in northern Iraq, police said.

THE United States inaugurated its largest embassy ever in the heart of the Green Zone yesterday, officially opening the fortress-like compound that was built as a testament to America’s commitment to Iraq.

THE United States handed over control of the Green Zone and Saddam Hussein’s presidential palace to Iraqi authorities yesterday in a ceremonial move described by the country’s prime minister as a restoration of Iraq’s sovereignty.

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets today to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at President George Bush.

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets today to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at President George Bush during a press conference.

A rocket struck near a UN compound in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad today, killing two foreigners and wounding 15 other people, according to UN and military officials.

Iraqi officials says a female suicide bomber has blown herself up near the Green Zone in Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 11 others.

Georgia’s contingent in Iraq was preparing to head home today to join the fighting against Russia in the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

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.

US and Iraqi troops have killed 38 militants in fierce clashes in Baghdad, including 22 who attacked a military checkpoint in a Shiite militia stronghold, the US military said today.

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr issued a “final warning” to the Iraqi government to halt the US-Iraqi crackdown against his followers or he would declare “open war until liberation”.