THOUSANDS of Shi'ites, many waving the Koran over their heads, protested the US presence in Iraq yesterday after the detention of several supporters of a radical cleric.

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the central city of Ramadi, killing 11 Iraqi police commandos and injuring 14 other people including two US Army soldiers, the US military said today.

Insurgents targeted Iraqi and US forces with gunfire, suicide attacks and mortar rounds today, leaving at least six people dead – including a top anti-corruption official and a US soldier.

Omar Sinan, Baghdad

An Iraqi militant group claimed responsibility today for shooting down an RAF Hercules transport plane with a missile, killing ten British servicemen and backed up their claim with a video.

BAGHDAD - Residents of Iraq’s capital turn out for the election but voting is also marred by a spate of mortar and suicide attacks, although many bombers fail to reach the interior of polling stations.

IRAQIS defied violence that killed 44 people and calls for a boycott to cast ballots in Iraq's first free election in a half-century yesterday.

Iraqis defied violence and calls for a boycott to cast ballots in Iraq’s first free election in a half-century today.

Insurgents are preparing attacks with suicide cyclists and loading bombs on to donkey carts in a bid to thwart measures which will keep cars off the streets during Iraq’s elections, military sources said today.

A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb north of Baghdad today, killing 12 Iraqis – all but one of them National Guards – in another strike against those co-operating with American forces, the US military said.

Iraq's prime minister Iyad Allawi issued a strong warning to the country's neighbours to crack down on militants infiltrating from their territory, saying his country’s patience was wearing thin.

Fuelled by fierce fighting in Fallujah and rebel counterattacks elsewhere in Iraq, the US military death toll for November is approaching the highest for any month of the war so far.

GUNMEN yesterday assassinated a member of an influential Sunni clerics’ group that has called for a boycott of national elections.

Iraqi authorities set January 30 as the date for the nation’s first election since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and pledged that voting would take place throughout the country, despite rising violence and calls by Sunni clerics for a boycott.

US forces stormed into western districts of Fallujah early today, seizing the main city hospital and securing two key bridges over the Euphrates River.

The Iraqi government declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout most of the country yesterday, as US and Iraqi forces prepared for an expected all-out assault on rebels in Fallujah.

Coalition attacks on rebel-held cities in Iraq will be suspended until after the US presidential election, it was reported today.

Shiite militiamen loyal to radical Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have agreed to begin handing in weapons.

The British government is ready to listen Ken Bigley’s kidnappers but will not enter into negotiations with them for the hostage’s release, Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in Baghdad today.

INSURGENTS bombarded a headquarters used by American troops and Iraqi forces with mortar rounds in the city of Samarra yesterday, destroying the building and killing five US soldiers and one Iraqi guardsman.

Insurgents fired mortar rounds at an Iraqi National Guard headquarters in the city of Samarra today, killing four US soldiers and one Iraqi guardsman, the military said.

Insurgents launched a series of attacks in the so-called Sunni triangle area of Iraq, killing at least 19 people, including one US soldier, and wounding 16 others.

Insurgents launched a series of attacks today on police stations in Iraq’s so-called “Sunni triangle”, killing at least 18 and wounding 13 others, police and hospital officials said.

A BOMB exploded yesterday along a highway leading to Baghdad's airport, killing two Iraqi soldiers and wounding 11 others four critically.

A roadside bomb exploded today along a highway leading to Baghdad’s airport, killing two Iraqi troops and wounding 11 others – four critically – as Iraq’s interim prime minister reorganised the country’s security forces to combat terrorism.

A United States soldier assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was killed today as a result of “enemy action” in central Iraq, the US military said in Baghdad.

SIX US service members were killed in a mortar attack yesterday in western Iraq, the US military has said.

Six US servicemen were killed in a mortar attack today in western Iraq.

A series of explosions rocked Fallujah and gunfire rang out across the city in new fighting today in the heart of Iraq’s Sunni triangle.

THE United Nations envoy helping to draft an Iraqi interim government told the Bush administration yesterday to "tread carefully" in besieged Fallujah and avoid alienating an already angry populace.

The United Nations envoy who is helping draft an Iraqi interim government urged President George W Bush’s administration today to “tread carefully” in besieged Fallujah and avoid alienating an already angry populace.

In a major change of strategy, the US is planning to offer government jobs in Iraq to former senior officers of Saddam Hussein’s military and the ousted Baath Party.

AMERICAN troops shot dead two staff from US-funded Iraqi TV station Al-Iraqiya yesterday and wounded another in the central city of Samaraa, the station said.

Witnesses claim more than 40 people were killed in the besieged Sunni Triangle city of Fallujah today when a mosque was hit by rocket fire from a US helicopter.

Despite the deaths of 12 US Marines in Iraq yesterday, President Bush declared that the US resolve in Iraq remained "unshakable".

Allied troops fought bloody battles against an enemy they did not expect in Iraq today – Shi'ites who were downtrodden during Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime.

A radical Iraqi cleric was branded an “outlaw” today and the US announced a warrant for his arrest, heightening a confrontation after his supporters clashed with coalition troops in battles that killed more than 60 people.

US forces closed off the turbulent city of Fallujah today ahead of a major operation against insurgents following the horrific murders of four American civilian security men last week.

The four westerners “slaughtered like sheep” in Iraq were private security guards hired by a US company that recruits former special forces soldiers, including ex-members of the SAS.

Jubilant Iraqis yanked the bodies of four American contractors from their burning jeeps yesterday, dragged the charred corpses through the streets, and hung two of them from a bridge spanning the Euphrates River.

Jubilant Iraqis yanked the bodies of four foreign contractors – at least one an American – out of their burning cars today, dragged the charred corpses through the streets, and hung two of them from a bridge spanning the Euphrates River.

Bombings and shootings across Iraq have left 18 people dead, including a US Marine and a cameraman killed in fierce fighting between American forces and guerrillas armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades in a town west of Baghdad.

Four American soldiers died in two bomb explosions in Baghdad, the U.S.-led coalition said today.

A roadside bomb killed two American soldiers and wounded four others today, the first casualties suffered by a US Army regiment taking over security in Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit as part of a giant troop rotation in Iraq.