A pair of suicide bombs ripped through a crowd of would-be police recruits in Baghdad on today, killing at least 35.

Iraq’s prime minister distanced himself from a raid by US and Iraqi forces today on Sadr City – the stronghold of the Shiite militia led by radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al Sadr.

Gunmen attacked women picking vegetables in a field outside the Iraqi capital, killing six adults and two young girls and kidnapping two teenagers.

At least five people were killed today in attacks in Iraq, while authorities continued to find more mutilated bodies in and around Baghdad – likely victims of the sectarian death squads that roam the capital area.

Two hidden bombs exploded today on a football pitch, killing nine youths, as two mortars landed while another football match was underway, killing three children, police said.

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.

Two US soldiers were killed when their helicopter was shot down and crashed in central Iraq, the military said today, as the government prepared to ring Baghdad with tens of thousands of security forces to curb the rampant insurgency.

A car bomb exploded today at a market south of Baghdad, killing at least 14 people and wounding 43, police said.

A suicide car bomb exploded at a market south of Baghdad today, killing at least 14 people and wounding 43, police said.

A suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body in front of a police station in a Kurdish town near the Iranian border, killing eight people on the eve of Iraq’s crucial national election, Iraqi and US officials said.

FIERCE battles between insurgents and US and Iraqi forces killed at least 16 people yesterday in the latest in a wave of clashes that has swept Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland.

SECURITY forces discovered three beheaded bodies yesterday on a road north of Baghdad.

A car bomb exploded near an Iraqi checkpoint in a town south of Baghdad today, killing two people and injuring 10.

US ARMOURED vehicles and tanks rolled back into the streets of Najaf and troops battled Shi'ite militants in a vast cemetery yesterday in a resumption of fighting after the collapse of talks aimed at ending the standoff.

TWO car bombs exploded in separate cities in Iraq yesterday, killing at least 14 Iraqis and one US soldier. Dozens were wounded, including 10 soldiers.

Five coalition soldiers – two Poles, three Slovaks and a Latvian – were killed in an explosion while defusing mines today.

A UN team met with Iraqi leaders yesterday to discuss the feasibility of early legislative elections and its leader pledged to do “everything possible” to help the country regain its sovereignty.

United States ground forces made a bold daytime raid into the Iraqi capital today as other coalition troops moved in from the south to test the strength of President Saddam Hussein’s defenders, who are believed to have fallen back for an urban battle, officials said.

Substantial numbers of coalition troops were near the centre of Baghdad today and had no plans to pull back, a US Central Command spokesman said.