A swift series of bombings and shootings killed 35 people across the Iraqi capital early today in attacks that mostly appeared to target police, officials said.

A suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi military base in northern Iraq today in the deadliest of a series of attacks that killed at least 42 people nationwide.

Iraq’s foreign minister today warned that a quick American military withdrawal from the country could lead to civil war and the collapse of the government, as pressure on the Bush administration for a pull-out grows.

A suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives in the crowded outdoor market of a Shiite farming town north of Baghdad today, levelling houses and stores and killing more than 100 people, officials said.

Suicide bombings have killed nearly 50 people and wounded dozens in two Iraqi villages, including a large truck bombing today that ripped through an outdoor market and buried victims in rubble, officials said.

A suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives in an outdoor market today, killing at least 22 people and wounding at least 50 others in a village of Shiite ethnic Turkomen north of Baghdad, police said.

A parked car exploded near a hospital in Baghdad’s main Shiite district today - the deadliest in a series of bombings killed at least nine people and wounded dozens in Iraq, police said.

Key US and Iraqi officials today issued cautiously optimistic reports one month into the latest drive to curb sectarian bloodshed in Baghdad but warned that months would pass before the operation could be labelled a success.

At least eight people were killed and 25 wounded when a suicide bomber struck a market in northern Iraq today.

Gunmen have killed at least nine people in separate attacks in northern Iraq and in the capital Baghdad.

Heavily-armed attackers rampaged through an open air market today in a tense, religiously mixed community south of Baghdad, killing 15 people and wounding 25.

A car bomb exploded in a Shiite holy city and 13 members of one Shiite family were gunned down north-east of the capital today in a surge of attacks that killed at least 30 people despite heightened security aimed at curbing sectarian violence following the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine.

Iraqi police and soldiers fanned out today to enforce an extraordinary daytime curfew in Baghdad and three provinces in a bid to halt the wave of sectarian violence that has killed about 120 people since the bombing of one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines.

SUNNI-LED insurgents killed 11 Iraqi security forces and wounded 14 in two separate attacks yesterday, as Shiites began celebrating a major Muslim holiday. Al-Qaida in Iraq threatened more attacks on diplomats here.

A leading Sunni cleric called for religious and ethnic groups to take a stand against violence as Iraq endured a third consecutive day of sectarian killings - the worst, a suicide car bombing at a Shiite mosque that killed at least 12 worshippers.

A SUICIDE car bomber struck as worshippers were leaving a Shi’ite mosque in a northern Iraqi town yesterday, killing at least 12 people.

A suicide car bomber struck worshippers leaving a Shiite mosque in Tuz Khormato in northern Iraq today, killing at least 10 people and wounding 21 others.

Gunmen have attacked cars owned by Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, wounding four of his bodyguards, police said.

Nearly 40 people have died in a rash of car bombings in Iraq’s capital in the space of 12 hours, including four co-ordinated blasts early today in central Baghdad that killed 15 and wounded 28 more, police said.

Paul Garwood, Baghdad

Three suicide car bombings struck within an hour and two parked motorcycles exploded in northern Iraq today, while gunmen in speeding cars opened fire on a crowded market in Baghdad in a series of attacks that killed at least 38 people.

Three suicide car bombings killed 23 people in northern Iraq today, including a top municipal council leader plus a bodyguard of Iraq’s Kurdish deputy prime minister, officials said.

Three suicide car bombings killed 16 people in northern Iraq today, including a top municipal council leader plus a bodyguard of Iraq’s Kurdish deputy prime minister, police said.

A car bomb targeting a restaurant where bodyguards of Iraq’s Kurdish deputy prime minister were eating killed nine people and injured 25 in the country’s northern region today.

Iraqi security forces launched a high-profile crackdown targeting terrorists in Baghdad today as insurgents hit back with suicide bombings and ambushes that killed at least 17 people.

Three suicide bombers tried to attack an American military base in the Iraqi of Samarra today and wounded three US soldiers while a car bomb killed five Iraqis in the north of the country.

A suicide car bomber blew himself up yesterday near an Islamic shrine, killing five Iraqis in the latest attack on Shiite Muslim pilgrims marking a major religious holiday.

A suicide bomber blew up a car south of Kirkuk today, killing two Iraqi Army soldiers and three bystanders.