Three American soldiers were killed and five were wounded in two separate roadside bomb attacks today, the US military says.

Two parked car bombs and two roadside bombs in the Iraqi capital this morning killed at least 12 people and wounded 35 others, police said.

Detailed plans for the new US embassy being built in Baghdad have appeared online in a major breach of the tight security surrounding the sensitive project that will be America’s largest diplomatic mission abroad.

Three separate explosions rocked Baghdad today, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens of others, police said.

The Iraqi commander of the Baghdad security crackdown said today that Iraq planned to close its borders with Syria and Iran for 72 hours as part of the drive to secure the Iraqi capital.

US troops killed six people and destroyed a weapons cache today in separate raids in Baghdad and north-west of the Iraqi capital, the US military said.

Three US soldiers have been killed by roadside bombs in and around Baghdad, the military said today.

The Irish Red Cross is joining calls for the release of a number of Iraqi Red Crescent staff and other volunteers who were abducted in Baghdad over the weekend.

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

Heavily-armed attackers rampaged through an open air market today in a tense, religiously mixed community south of Baghdad, killing 15 people and wounding 25.

A suicide bomber has struck a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers in Baghdad, killing at least seven people and wounding 18, as violence persisted despite a driving ban and increased security measures aimed at restoring order in the Iraqi capital.

A string of deadly attacks ripped through the Iraqi capital today, killing at least 26 people and wounding nearly 70, police said.

Insurgents blew up a small Shiite mosque north-east of Baghdad today, while police reported the discovery of nearly 40 bodies in several neighbourhoods of the Iraqi capital. The US military reported the death of three American soldiers.

Saddam Hussein today appeared in a special Green Zone courtroom for resumption of his trial as the sound of mortar fire echoed through the centre of the Iraqi capital.

Saddam Hussein and others assembled today in a special Green Zone courtroom for resumption of his trial as the sound of mortar fire echoed through the centre of the Iraqi capital.

A car bomb killed at least 13 people and wounded 21 today when it exploded near a market outside the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

A suicide bomber detonated his car today near a police patrol in Baquoba, 35 miles northeast of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Two US Army soldiers were killed when their convoy was hit a roadside bomb in the Iraqi capital.

Rory Carroll could be re-united with his family as early as today.

NEW suicide bombings killed at least 22 people in the Baghdad area yesterday, while relatives struggled to identify charred bodies from a fiery suicide attack near a Shi’ite mosque in Musayyib that killed more than 90 people.

A fire erupted today in a transformer room that feeds electricity to a main water plant near Baghdad, shutting it down completely and leaving millions of residents in the Iraqi capital without water.

A US military investigation into the accidental shooting death of an Italian intelligence officer in Baghdad is expected to conclude that the American soldiers generally followed instructions as they fired on the agent’s approaching car, a senior US defence official said.

Italy and the US disagree over the findings of an investigation into the accidental shooting death by US soldiers of an Italian intelligence agent in Baghdad, according to Italian news reports.

A COMMERCIAL helicopter contracted by the US government was shot down by missile fire north of the Iraqi capital yesterday, killing at least 11 people, including six American contractors, officials said.

A commercial helicopter crashed north of the Iraqi capital today, killing nine people, the US Embassy said.

Three loud explosions rocked the Iraqi capital tonight, including a suicide car bomb which was detonated near a police checkpoint, killing one policeman and wounding two, and a roadside bomb that injured four Iraqis, authorities said.

Militants exploded three bombs today in the Iraqi capital, killing at least one civilian and wounding eight others, officials said of the latest in a string of deadly attacks across Baghdad.

Two car bombs exploded near government offices in the Iraqi capital today, killing 18 and wounding three dozen as insurgent attacks against security forces left at least eight others dead.

Attackers ambushed and killed two American contractors working for Blackwater Security Consulting south of the Iraqi capital, the US Embassy and security officials said today.

A suicide car bomber killed 25 people and wounded 71 others in a massive blast south of the Iraqi capital this morning, a senior Interior Ministry official said.

A gas tanker truck wired with explosives blew up in a west Baghdad neighbourhood, killing one person, wounding 19 and lighting up the night sky with a fireball just hours after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left the Iraqi capital.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in Baghdad today in a surprise visit for talks with interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

Car bombers struck twice in rapid succession in the Iraqi capital today, killing at least 11 people including an American soldier and wounding at least 16.

A car bomb exploded near a police station in the Iraqi capital early today, the US military said.

A loud explosion echoed across the Iraqi capital early today.

An explosion targeted the Baghdad governor’s convoy as he was travelling through the Iraqi capital today, killing two people but leaving him uninjured, the Interior Ministry said.

A car bomb exploded in the Iraqi capital as the Baghdad governor’s convoy was passing by, the Interior Ministry said.

A mortar attack tonight killed two US soldiers and left 16 wounded – one critically – on a logistical base west of the Iraqi capital.

Assailants detonated roadside bombs in two separate attacks north of the Iraqi capital today, killing three civilians in attacks apparently aimed at passing US troops, hospital officials said.

US forces clashed with insurgents southeast of the Iraqi capital in fighting that left up to five civilians dead.

A car bomb exploded northeast of the Iraqi capital today, killing at least seven police officers in an apparent attempt to assassinate a deputy governor who was wounded in the blast.

A roadside bomb exploded early today, killing one US 1st Infantry Division soldier and injuring six others north of the Iraqi capital, a US military spokesman said.

Gunmen opened fire on a three vehicle convoy of contractors working for the coalition near Baghdad today, killing some of them, a US military spokesman said.

US soldiers escorting a convoy of prisoners released from the Abu Ghraib jail came under fire today after they stopped in the middle of a road outside the Iraqi capital.