The governor of an Iraqi province overrun with militants says authorities are determined to recapture the northern city of Mosul after large parts of it were seized by Islamist insurgents.

Further to the column from the Arts Editor, “Stolen Moments in British Museum” (Nov 4) in which he demanded all artefacts held by the museum should be returned to the original owners, on Nov 24 Channel 4 and The Sunday Telegraph covered the likely discovery of the site of one of the wonders of the ancient world, the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

A suicide bomber has struck a funeral attended by members of an ethnic minority in northern Iraq, killing at least 15 in the latest episode of deadly violence to shake the country.

Iraq’s prime minister has warned that weapons and fighters flowing into Syria are now making their way to Iraq, as a rising tide of violence sweeps across the country.

Militants have issued death threats against employees of Iraq’s election commission, raising concerns about security ahead of the upcoming provincial balloting, officials said.

Two separate suicide attacks in Iraq killed at least 34 people and wounded scores more today, shattering more than a week of relative calm.

Rescuers dug through the muddy wreckage of collapsed clay houses in north-west Iraq today, uncovering at least 200 bodies from suicide truck bombings the US military blamed on al-Qaida.

Shiite militants and police enraged by massive truck bombings in the northwestern town of Tal Afar today went on a revenge spree against Sunni residents there, killing as many as 60 people, officials said.

At least 45 people were killed when off-duty Shiite policemen went on a revenge spree against Sunnis in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar today.

A US helicopter crashed north-east of Baghdad today, killing all 13 people on board, the US military said.

A UNITED NATIONS official said yesterday that Iraq’s recent parliamentary elections, which have given a strong lead to the Shi’ite religious bloc dominating the current government, were credible and that there was there was no justification in calls for a rerun.

The Iraqi government imposed emergency legislation in two predominantly Sunni Muslim provinces for the 30 days and closed the borders with Syria until further notice, the a statement said today.

The German woman kidnapped in Iraq last Friday had been working in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul since May and was warned by authorities that her stay there was not safe, a local official said today.

Nine days after Iraq’s landmark constitutional referendum, the Election Commission today said its audit of the results was continuing in a key province that would determine the final outcome.

Iraqi officials are investigating “unusually high” numbers of “yes” votes in about a dozen provinces during the landmark referendum on a new constitution, raising questions about possible ballot fraud.

IRAQ's constitution seems certain to have been approved by voters despite strong opposition from Sunni Arabs, who voted in surprisingly high numbers in an effort to stop it.

Iraq’s constitution seemed assured of passage today despite strong opposition from Sunni Arabs who turned out in surprisingly high numbers in an effort to stop it.

Election officials counted millions of paper ballots across Iraq today as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it appeared the country’s draft constitution had passed – despite a surprisingly large turnout by Sunni Arab opponents.

Seven of Iraq’s 18 provinces, including key Sunni Arab-majority ones, had a turnout of more than 66% in the country’s landmark referendum on a constitution, election officials said today.

Clergy-backed Shiites and independence-minded Kurds swept to victory in Iraq’s elections, according to final results released tonight.

Jason Keyser, Baghdad

Iraqi authorities will impose “restrictions” on the movement of cars throughout Iraq and throw security cordons around polling stations, a Cabinet minister has said today.