The death toll in a car bombing at an open-air market in a Shiite town north east of Baghdad has risen to 30, Iraqi police and morgue officials said.

At least 22 people have been killed and more than 50 injured in a car bomb explosion in an open-air market north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said today.

The vote winner in Iraq’s parliamentary elections said today he wanted to negotiate with all parties to form a government that can restore Iraq’s place in the Arab and Muslim world.

Iraq’s secular former prime minister edged out Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as final results of the parliamentary elections were released today.

Around a hundred badly decomposed bodies have been found in a mass grave north of Baghdad.

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 top aide to Iraq’s finance ministry was gunned down in western Baghdad, police said – one of six people killed or found dead across Iraq today.

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.

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

US forces backed by attack aircraft killed at least 25 suspected Shiite militia fighters north of Baghdad today as they targeted a cell accused of smuggling weapons from Iran.

Police ordered a curfew today in Shiite holy city of Karbala and told more than one million pilgrims to leave after two days of violence claimed least 26 lives during a Shiite religious festival.

A mortar barrage slammed into a mainly Shiite east Baghdad neighbourhood today, killing 12 and wounding 31, police said.

The goalkeeper of the Kirkuk football club was kidnapped travelling from northern Iraq to visit relatives in Baghdad, a sports official said.

The goalkeeper of the Kirkuk football club was kidnapped as he was travelling from northern Iraq to visit relatives in Baghdad, a sports official said tonight.

A group of gunmen in two cars attacked a minibus in Iraq today, killing seven passengers, including a child, police said.

A suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt blew himself up inside a funeral tent in a Shiite enclave in a volatile province north of Baghdad today, killing at least 20 people and wounding 30, officials said.

At least nine soldiers were killed today in a suicide car bomb attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint in northern Iraq.

A parked car exploded near a hospital in Baghdad’s main Shiite district today - the deadliest in a series of bombings killed at least nine people and wounded dozens in Iraq, police said.

Three car bombs exploded in a predominantly Shiite town north of Baghdad today, police said, but they had no immediate word on casualties.

Shiite militiamen drove back Iraqi forces in a city south of Baghdad today in fierce street fighting that killed 40 people.

A surge in bloodshed left nearly 50 people dead in a suicide car bombing and clashes between Shiite militia and Iraqi security forces today, in a brutal contradiction of the prime minister’s claim that violence was decreasing.

A suicide car bomber killed 14 people and wounded 43 outside the Interior Ministry in downtown Baghdad today, police said, a day after an upsurge of violence left more than 50 people dead across the country.

TWO television journalists were killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb yesterday.

A roadside bomb ripped through a bus today killing 10 people working for an organisation opposed to the Iranian regime, police said.

A drive-by shooting killed a Shiite baker heading to work in Baghdad today, and the bullet-ridden bodies of four Iraqis were found in the capital.

A series of car bombs in three different Iraqi cities today left at least seven people dead and dozens wounded.

Gunmen lined up 14 employees working at an electronics trading company in Baghdad this morning and shot them all, killing eight and wounding six, police said.

AMERICAN and Iraqi troops swept the oil-rich region of Kirkuk for suspected insurgents and captured dozens, while drive-by shootings, roadside bombings and sectarian violence killed at least 29 people in Iraq yesterday.

A SUICIDE car bomber attacked a hospital in central Iraq yesterday while US troops were handing out toys to children, killing 30 people, including four police guards, three women and two children, officials said.

ONE of the Sunni Arabs appointed to a committee to draft Iraq’s constitution was assassinated yesterday in a drive-by shooting.

US TROOPS killed 10 insurgents north of Baghdad yesterday, while 10 Iraqi troops died in two separate attacks in a surge of violence following a relative lull last week.

US troops killed 10 insurgents in an ethnically-mixed city north of Baghdad, while 10 Iraqi troops died in two separate attacks north-east of the capital in a surge of violence following a relative lull last week.

Insurgents killed nine Iraqi soldiers today in a town north of Baghdad – seven of them in an armed assault on a checkpoint and two others in a car bombing more than an hour later, Iraqi officials said.

IRAQI and US forces, acting on a tip-off, raided a dangerous Sunni neighbourhood yesterday and freed an Australian hostage.

An explosion today killed at least 17 Iraqi soldiers and injured 28 others inside a restaurant on an Iraqi army base north of Baghdad.

At least 10 people, including a suicide bomber, were killed in an overnight suicide bombing in a remote village north of Baghdad, officials said today.

The government announced today that a security cordon of 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police will ring Baghdad starting next week to try to halt a spree of insurgent violence that has killed more than 620 people this month.

SPORADIC gunfire, explosions and a US bombing raid shook the city of Najaf yesterday as militants retained control of a revered shrine, raising fears that a plan to end the crisis could collapse amid bickering between Shi'ite leaders.

Sporadic gunfire, explosions and a US bombing raid shook the city of Najaf today as militants retained control of a revered shrine, raising fears that a plan to end the crisis could collapse amid bickering between Shiite leaders.

A car bomb exploded north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad today, killing two people and injuring four others, including a deputy provincial governor, police said.

A car bomb blew up in an Iraqi town today, killing 13 people attending a wake for the victims of a previous attack, hospital officials said.

Iraqi Shiite militiamen fired several mortar shells at a US base in Najaf early today and at a city hall guarded by Bulgarian troops in another Shiite city.

HUNDREDS of US soldiers raided a northern Iraqi town yesterday in a bid to smash a crime ring wanted for murder, gunrunning and a terrorist attack on a police station that killed a US soldier earlier this month.