Iraqi forces have pushed into a town south of Mosul after Islamic State fighters fled with civilians used as human shields, officials said.

Iraq’s prime minister has condemned the latest round of bombings that left dozens of his countrymen dead, and vowed that his government’s “rational, political struggle” would prevail over “criminal acts”.

Turkey has asked the US to extradite two Turkish Islamic militants who were reportedly captured in Iraq on suspicion of involvement in the 2003 Istanbul suicide bombings that killed some 60 people.

US warplanes pounded Fallujah with 500lb laser-guided bombs and US Marines battled with Iraqi insurgents near a train station and in neighbourhoods that had seemed to be quieting.

THE besieged Shi’ite city of Fallujah was rocked again by a series of explosions and gunfire yesterday — only hours after a heavy battle in which US warplanes and artillery pounded insurgents holed up in a slum.