Roadside bombs killed two US soldiers in separate attacks in Iraq, the military said today.

A suicide truck bomber struck a market in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad today, killing as many as 121 people among the crowd buying food for evening meals, one of the most devastating attacks in the capital since the war started.

News of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s death trickled in to the US Marines camp outside the battle-scarred city of Fallujah today, bringing the troops a vague sense of satisfaction.

A SUICIDE car bomb south of Baghdad killed 22 Iraqis and wounded at least 60 in Baghdad yesterday and four US troops were killed - two in a helicopter crash Wednesday and two from a roadside bomb.

US and Iraqi troops swept into the insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar early today, conducting house-to-house searches and battering down walls with armoured vehicles in a second bid to clean the city of militant fighters.

SADDAM HUSSEIN could face up to 500 charges, but prosecutors will focus on 12 well-documented cases, including the gassing of thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq, an official said yesterday.

Gunmen shot dead five policemen in a drive-by shooting in the Iraqi capital today, one day after authorities said they’d found dozens of corpses – some bullet-riddled, others beheaded – at two sites in the insurgent-wracked country.

IRAQI officials have found 41 bullet-riddled or beheaded bodies at two sites and they said yesterday they believe some of the corpses are Iraqi soldiers kidnapped and killed by insurgents.

Two Indonesian journalists were missing in the turbulent Iraqi city of Ramadi, the country’s Foreign Ministry said today, stopping short of saying they’d been abducted by insurgents.

Leading Iraqi politicians have called for a six-month delay in the January 30 election because of the spiralling violence as US forces uncovered more bodies in the northern city of Mosul, apparent victims of an intimidation campaign by insurgents against Iraq’s fledgling security forces.

US warplanes struck an alleged hide-out where operatives from an al Qaida-linked group had gathered today killing at least 20 people.

A BAGHDAD mortar barrage killed an Iraqi and injured 14 coalition soldiers yesterday, while a senior Egyptian diplomat returned to work a day after being released by militants.

American troops fought militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr today in the southern city of Karbala, but the city of Najaf was relatively quiet following intense clashes yesterday.

A donkey cart packed with explosives blew up moments after a convoy of US troops drove past it today, killing 10 Iraqis and injuring 20.

NINE people were killed in an outburst of violence in Iraq, including four Iraqi women driving to jobs at a US military base and two US soldiers.

Nine people were killed in an outburst of violence in Iraq, including four Christian women driving to jobs at a US military base and two American soldiers killed in a mortar barrage.