IRAQI Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday defied American troops closing in on his militia army, vowing in a sermon to drive out an army he said was discredited by prisoner abuse.

An al-Qaida-linked militant claimed responsibility on tonight for suicide boat attacks that killed three Americans and disabled Iraq’s biggest terminal for more than 24 hours.

THREE US military police died in an ambush in the Shi’ite holy city of Kerbala and another American military policeman was killed by a bomb in Baghdad, the US military said yesterday.

THE formation of a new Iraqi government will start next week, the country’s US administrator said yesterday, after American forces netted four more senior members of Saddam Hussein’s old guard.

HUGE crowds of ecstatic Shi’ites surged through the holy city of Kerbala yesterday, ending a pilgrimage that signalled to Washington they will be a powerful force in the new Iraq.

IRAQI Christians observed a sombre Easter Sunday, praying for an end to post-war chaos and uncertainty, as a first convoy of food aid reached Baghdad.

SADDAM HUSSEIN’S son-in-law Jamal Mustafa Sultan Abdullah al-Tikriti has surrendered in Syria and was being brought back to Iraq, it was disclosed last night.

PRELIMINARY tests on substances found at a military training camp in central Iraq suggest they may contain a cocktail of banned chemical weapons, including deadly nerve agents, US officers said last night.

A US ARMOURED force punched into the heart of Baghdad yesterday and established a stronghold in one of President Saddam Hussein’s palaces, while troops in central Iraq found a cache of suspected Iraqi chemical weapons.

US FORCES in southern Iraq are braced for their biggest battle yet on the road to Baghdad – an expected clash near the Shi’ite holy city of Kerbala with elements of Iraq’s Republican Guard.

IT may be a shadow of its former self, but Iraq's Republican Guard is still a combat-hardened force. And it stands at the gates to Baghdad.

SADDAM HUSSEIN’S regime was reported to be under attack from his own people and from coalition forces last night as bombs rained down on Baghdad, and the population of Basra staged an uprising.

Iraqi television last night showed the two crewmen from the US Apache helicopter forced down during heavy fighting in central Iraq.

Iraqi television last night showed two men said to have been the crew of a US Apache helicopter forced down during heavy fighting in central Iraq.

IRAQI forces, with a hail of small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, downed two Apache helicopters yesterday and forced 30 other helicopters in their brigade back to their base.

Iraqi forces, with a hail of small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, downed two Apache helicopters today and forced 30 other helicopters in their brigade back to their base, The New York Times reported.

Although Saddam Hussein stands unopposed in today’s presidential referendum, the Iraqi government is still pushing for the highest percentage of 'yes' votes.