Eighteen people were killed and more than 50 injured when bombs struck two Sunni towns at sundown, just as Iraqis were preparing to break their holy day’s fast.

A car bombing in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf has left 23 people injured.

BOMB blasts ripped through more than a dozen Iraqi cities yesterday morning, killing 60 security forces and civilians in the worst attack this year.

Bombs ripped through more than a dozen Iraqi cities today killing scores of people in a wave of violence that shattered what had been a relatively peaceful holy month of Ramadan.

IRAQI authorities uncovered a mass grave with 900 corpses near the central city of Diwaniyah yesterday, believed to be Kurds killed during the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, an official said.

A Shia cleric who led two uprisings in Iraq has urged his followers to resist what he described as occupiers from the US, Israel and Britain.

Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led several Shiite uprisings against American forces in Iraq before travelling to neighbouring Iran three years ago, has returned to Iraq.

Weeping and wailing Shiites today buried the last of dozens of bombing victims killed while praying, and their leaders called for a three-day mourning period after the deadliest day in Iraq this year.

Iraqi security forces have disrupted a 9/11-style plot by al-Qaida in Iraq to fly hijacked planes into Shiite religious shrines, Iraqi and US officials said.

Thousands of Iraqis marched through the city of Najaf today for an annual march to mark the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

Iraq’s president today called for a recount in this month’s parliamentary elections.

Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s coalition took an early lead in the country’s key election according to results today.

AT least six people were killed yesterday by a series of bomb blasts targeting Shi’ite pilgrims in Iraq, hospital officials said.

At least six people have been killed today by a series of bomb blasts targeting Shiite pilgrims in Iraq, hospital officials said.

Three bombs have exploded in the Iraqi city of Najaf killing at least 15 people.

A car bomb exploded today at a market south of Baghdad in a region that was once the scene of frequent attacks on Shiites, killing seven people and wounding 21 others, police and hospital officials said.

A suicide truck bomber attacked a small police station in a remote village north of Baghdad on today, killing at least eight people, Iraqi authorities said.

Gay men are being murdered across Iraq in a systematic campaign by militia, a human rights group said today.

A woman who made routine visits to a Shiite shrine in southern Iraq has died of swine flu, making it the first death from the virus in the country, a health ministry official said today.

US President Barack Obama tonight moved to fulfil the defining promise of his campaign, saying all US combat troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of August next year.

ALLIES of Iraq’s US-backed prime minister appeared yesterday to have made gains in the provincial elections, rewarding groups credited with reining in insurgents and militias, according to unofficial projections.

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.

AN OIL refinery in Iraq’s western desert has resumed production, the government said yesterday, as part of an outreach to an area once controlled by Sunni insurgents.

IRAQ’S national security adviser said yesterday his country will not accept any security deal with the US unless it contains specific dates for the withdrawal of US-led forces.

A roadside bomb killed an American soldier in Baghdad today, capping the bloodiest week for US troops in Iraq this year. Clashes persisted in Shiite areas, even as the biggest Shiite militia sought to rein in its fighters.

Shiite militants fought US and Iraqi forces around Baghdad’s Shiite district of Sadr City early today despite a call for calm by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr following the assassination of one of his top aides.

A senior aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was today assassinated in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf.

Iraq’s prime minister pledged to expand his crackdown on Shiite militias to Baghdad, despite a mixed performance so far against militants in the southern city of Basra.

The Iraqi government has welcomed an order by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to pull his fighters off the streets.

Iraqi forces battled with Shiite militia today for control of the southern oil port of Basra.

Iraqi forces clashed with Shiite militias in the southern oil port of Basra today as a security plan to clamp down on violence between rival militia factions in the region began.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has threatened to lift a six-month ceasefire, credited with helping to reduce violence in Iraq, by the end of the week, a spokesman and another official said today.

AN IRAQI journalist said yesterday that gunmen went on a killing spree in his Baghdad home, murdering seven children and four adult relatives, but Iraq’s interior ministry denied the attack took place.

Five more US troops killed in Iraq yesterday made 2007 the deadliest year yet for American forces.

A car bomb today ripped through a Kirkuk bus terminal that serves travellers to Iraq’s Kurdish region, killing eight people and wounding 26, according to a police spokesman.

Tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims defied fears of violence and converged around a gold-domed mosque in the first major religious procession since Shiite battles turned a procession into a scene of bloodshed.

The US military brought a new weapon into the fight in Iraq, announcing the Army’s first-ever use of a drone aircraft to kill enemy fighters in Iraq.

A roadside bomb rocked an eastern Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood this morning, killing at least 13 people and injuring 25 others when it exploded next to buses used by morning commuters, police and hospital officials said.

A roadside bomb rocked an eastern Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood early today, killing at least 11 people and injuring 19 others when it exploded next to buses used by morning commuters.

Sporadic gunfire echoed through the centre of Karbala in Iraq early today after clashes between rival Shiite militias claimed up to 51 lives.

American troops battled with Shiite gunmen today in Baghdad, killing at least eight in pre-dawn fighting, the US military said.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Baghdad soon in what will be the first-ever visit of an Iranian president to Iraq, a state television channel said on its website today.

A parked car bomb exploded near a market in a predominantly Shiite area in Baghdad today, killing at least 21 people and wounding more than 60, police said.