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

Three bombs planted on motorcycles went off in quick succession near a market and police station in a town in central Iraq on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens more, officials said.

A swift series of bombings and shootings killed 35 people across the Iraqi capital early today in attacks that mostly appeared to target police, officials said.

A suicide bomber in the northern city of Tikrit and gunmen in the Iraqi capital killed a total of seven people today, officials said.

A bomb targeting worshippers attending Friday prayers at a Sunni mosque north of Baghdad has killed 16 people and wounded dozens more, the top medical official in the province said.

Ten soldiers were killed and 29 other people injured when a suicide bomber blew up his booby-trapped car outside an Iraqi army battalion headquarters in the country’s east today.

Gunmen have attacked Iraq’s largest oil refinery, killing one guard and detonating bombs that sparked a fire and forced the facility to shut down, government officials have revealed.

A car bomb killed six pilgrims today in the latest deadly attack on Shias on their way to mark religious rituals in a holy Iraqi city, police and hospital officials said.

At least 40 people have been killed and 75 wounded in a suicide bombing outside an Iraqi police station in a crowd of recruits waiting to apply for jobs.

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.

Twelve people died in overnight clashes in Baghdad’s Sadr City district, which has become a chief battleground between US and Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, police and hospital officials said today.

A car bomb exploded today near an Iraqi checkpoint in a market north of Baghdad, killing at least 23 civilians and wounding 25, the US military said.

Three US soldiers who were gunned down during a three-hour firefight last week may have been killed by fire from their American comrades, US military officials in Iraq said.

Two Iraqi suicide car bombers trying to murder a local police chief and a US-supporting Sunni leader killed at least 18 people today.

The rate of deaths of US forces in Iraq fell to its lowest for more than a year last month with a total of 63.

US aircraft killed more than 20 al-Qaida fighters who opened fire on an American air patrol north-west of Baghdad, the military reported today.

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

US TROOPS have killed the al-Qaida in Iraq mastermind of the bombing that destroyed the golden dome of a famed sacred Shi’ite shrine last year, the military said yesterday.

US troops killed an al-Qaida leader behind the bombing of twin minarets at Iraq's prized Golden Dome shrine in Samarra, the military said today.

Iraq’s foreign minister today warned that a quick American military withdrawal from the country could lead to civil war and the collapse of the government, as pressure on the Bush administration for a pull-out grows.

Two car bombs detonated in a Baghdad neighbourhood today, killing at least eight people.

A suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives in the crowded outdoor market of a Shiite farming town north of Baghdad today, levelling houses and stores and killing more than 100 people, officials said.

US forces raided an al-Qaida hide-out north-east of Baghdad today and freed 42 Iraqis imprisoned inside, including some who had been tortured and suffered broken bones, a senior U.S. military official said.

An al-Qaida front group claims to have captured American soldiers in a deadly Iraq attack, as thousands of US troops searched insurgent areas south of Baghdad for their three missing comrades.

Iraq security forces have today captured a provincial leader of al-Qaida in Iraq during an operation north of Baghdad, which also left two of his followers dead.

Executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was buried shortly before sunrise today inside a compound for religious ceremonies in the town of his birth.

A delegation that included the governor of Salahuddin Province and the head of Saddam Hussein’s clan has retrieved his body from Baghdad and taken it for burial near the executed dictator’s hometown, Al-Arabiya satellite television reported tonight.

US-led coalition forces killed 20 insurgents, including two women, today in an attack targeting al-Qaida in Iraq militants, the US command said.

Two American soldiers died today when their helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, the US military announced.

A rubbish collector and a Baghdad University security chief were killed today - among the latest victims of seemingly random violence in Iraq as Prime Minister Nouri Maliki steps up his efforts to bring insurgents into the political process.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s party will stick by him as the Shiite nominee for a second term and will put forward the name of a new candidate only if the premier decides to step aside, a top party official said today.

Heliborne US and Iraqi troops pressed their sweep through a 100-square-mile section of central Iraq today in a bid to break up a centre of insurgent resistance, the US military said. No casualties were reported on either side.

US forces today launched what was termed the largest air assault since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, targeting insurgent strongholds north of Baghdad, the US military said.

President Jalal Talabani warned today that extremists are pushing Iraq towards civil war.

Iraq’s Electoral Commission announced today that preliminary results showed that about 70% of the country’s 15.5 million registered voters took part in last week’s election for a new parliament.

Iraq’s electoral commission released partial and preliminary results today from the last week’s elections that showed Shiite and Kurdish parties dominating in provinces where they are the predominant group.

Sunni Arab participation in the Iraqi elections could have been even higher if there had there been more polling centres in key Sunni areas, a head of the largest Sunni Arab slate said today.

Iraq’s landmark constitution was adopted by a majority of voters during the country’s October 15 referendum, election officials 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.