American troops killed a key lieutenant of suspected al-Qaida linked militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi during a shoot-out west of Baghdad, the US military said today.

NINE people were killed in an outburst of violence in Iraq, including four Iraqi women driving to jobs at a US military base and two US soldiers.

Nine people were killed in an outburst of violence in Iraq, including four Christian women driving to jobs at a US military base and two American soldiers killed in a mortar barrage.

US soldiers have seized four relatives of the man America believes is masterminding attacks against its troops, in early morning raids today.

A US ARMY Apache attack helicopter was shot down yesterday, the third downed in less than two weeks and witnesses said American troops killed four civilians in two incidents, after coming under attack.

A US Apache helicopter went down this morning near the western Iraqi town town of Habbaniyah today.

A ROADSIDE bomb killed two US soldiers in Baghdad yesterday, hours after troops captured a former general in Saddam Hussein’s security services on charges of recruiting ex-soldiers to attack Americans.

US troops have arrested at least 20 insurgents in a raid in northern Iraq, but they failed to capture their main target – Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a former Saddam deputy and the King of Clubs in the most wanted list.

The US army’s claim that 54 Iraqis were killed in two deadly ambushes in the northern town of Samarra was disputed by Iraqi residents today.

THE Iraqi town of Samarra was partly devastated after US troops yesterday responded to two ambushes.

Ahmed Chalabi, the Pentagon’s favourite to lead Iraq, today denied he was a candidate for the top job.