Eight people have been killed and 45 others injured in a series of blasts in central Iraq, officials said today.

Early-morning bombing by US warplanes on the largely Sunni city of Samarrah killed at least eight people, Iraqi hospital officials said today.

US marines performed an abrupt U-turn today and prepared to hand the siege city of Fallujah over to an Iraqi army led by one of Saddam Hussein’s top generals.

Iraqi militants and rebellious Shiites challenged the US-led occupation force on two fronts today, mounting a string of attacks across the south that left dozens of people dead.