Gunmen lined up 14 employees working at an electronics trading company in Baghdad this morning and shot them all, killing eight and wounding six, police said.

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy was killed by a roadside bomb as he walked to school in the southern city of Basra, one of more than 20 victims of violence that continued to rattle Iraq yesterday as political leaders remained deadlocked over a new government.

Suspected insurgents killed three Iraqi policemen and wounded another in a drive-by shooting in west Baghdad this morning.

Suspected insurgents killed one Iraqi policeman and wounded three others in a drive-by shooting in west Baghdad today.

US and British troops yesterday freed three Christian peace activists in rural Iraq without firing a shot.

A suicide bomber and a huge car bomb ripped apart a market in Baghdad’s Sadr City Shiite slum shortly before dusk today, killing at least 37 and wounding 95.

The body of the only American among four Christian peace activists kidnapped late last year was found near a west Baghdad railway line with gunshots to his head and chest, Iraqi police said today.

At least 24 bodies – many of them strangled – were found dumped in parts of Baghdad, Iraqi police said today.

Gunmen stormed a Sunni mosque in west Baghdad early today, killing three people in a 25-minute gun battle, police said. Seven others were wounded.

Bomb blasts, shootings and rocket-propelled grenade attacks killed at least 13 people throughout Iraq, including a policeman’s four children, officials said today.

A SHI’ITE lawyer is expected to take charge of Saddam Hussein’s trial for the 1982 massacre of over 140 Shiites, a court official said yesterday.

Saddam Hussein’s lawyer blamed US-led “occupation forces” today for the killing of a second colleague in the trial and urged Arab leaders to “shoulder their responsibility” to combat disorder here that threatens the proceeding.

A suicide bomber detonated his car today near a police patrol in Baquoba, 35 miles northeast of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

An internet statement posted today in the name of al Qaida in Iraq claimed the terror group has issued death sentences against two kidnapped Algerian diplomats, but there was no word on whether the punishment had been carried out.

SIX car bombs targeted US and Iraqi troops across Baghdad yesterday, killing as many as 20 people, and the military said two US Marines died the day before in a roadside bombing near the Jordanian border.

A SUICIDE car bomber, who targeted American soldiers as they gave sweets to children and detonated his vehicle, killed up to 27 other people yesterday.

A suicide car bomber sped to American soldiers as they distributed sweets to children and detonated his vehicle today, killing up to 27 other people, US and Iraqi officials said.

A suicide car bomber drove up to a US vehicle crowded with Iraqi children and detonated his vehicle today, killing one American soldier and at least seven Iraqi children, the US military said.

US troops killed 10 insurgents in an ethnically-mixed city north of Baghdad, while 10 Iraqi troops died in two separate attacks north-east of the capital in a surge of violence following a relative lull last week.

Gunmen killed four policemen and wounded at least nine more in separate attacks in Baghdad today. The reputed leader of al Qaida in Iraq said the country’s security forces were as great an enemy as the Americans and brushed aside calls to abandon the insurgency.

A suicide bomber strapped with explosives killed 20 people waiting outside a police recruiting centre for special forces in Iraq’s capital today, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

INSURGENTS killed 17 Iraqi police and National Guards yesterday in a string of bloody ambushes, bombings and suicide attacks aimed at wrecking Iraq’s January 30 national election.

INSURGENTS lured police to a house in west Baghdad with an anonymous tip about a rebel hideout and then set off explosives, killing at least 29 people and wounding 18, in the latest deadly strike against Iraqi security forces.

At least 29 people have been killed and 18 others injured in a huge explosion in west Baghdad, police said today.

Nine people died and 14 were seriously wounded in a gas tanker explosion in west Baghdad just hours after a surprise visit to the Iraqi capital by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

A gas tanker truck wired with explosives blew up in a west Baghdad neighbourhood, killing one person, wounding 19 and lighting up the night sky with a fireball just hours after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left the Iraqi capital.

A loud explosion echoed across the Iraqi capital of Baghdad early today.

A car bomb exploded in the Iraqi capital as the Baghdad governor’s convoy was passing by, the Interior Ministry said.

SPORADIC gunfire, explosions and a US bombing raid shook the city of Najaf yesterday as militants retained control of a revered shrine, raising fears that a plan to end the crisis could collapse amid bickering between Shi'ite leaders.

Sporadic gunfire, explosions and a US bombing raid shook the city of Najaf today as militants retained control of a revered shrine, raising fears that a plan to end the crisis could collapse amid bickering between Shiite leaders.

NEARLY 300 Iraqi detainees, some weeping, were released from the Abu Ghraib prison yesterday, a day after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit, insisting the Pentagon did not try to cover up abuses there.

More than 300 Iraqi detainees, some weeping and waving to friends, were released from the infamous Abu Ghraib prison today, a day after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit and insisted the Pentagon did not try to cover up abuses there.

US troops today started releasing more than 300 Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, where abuses by American soldiers were revealed.

Insurgents shot down a US Apache attack helicopter in west Baghdad today, killing its two crew-members, the US military said.

Rebels shot down a US Apache attack helicopter in west Baghdad today, the military said. The fate of the crew was unknown.

Aquila al-Hashimi, the only member of Saddam Hussein’s regime to be chosen by Iraq’s American occupiers to sit on the interim Governing Council, has died, five days after she was gunned down near her west Baghdad home.

Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women members of Iraq’s Governing Council, was shot in the abdomen and critically wounded today in an assassination attempt outside her home in west Baghdad, police and doctors said.

A SUICIDE car bomber struck the US intelligence headquarters in Irbil yesterday killing three Iraqis.

An American soldier was killed in west Baghdad today as he tried to detonate a roadside bomb.

IRAQ’S new governing council — a US sanctioned first step toward democratic government — put off selecting a president yesterday but voted to send a delegation to the UN Security Council.

A BOMB exploded yesterday near a US military vehicle on the road to Baghdad’s airport, and assailants threw grenades at a US-led convoy, killing an American soldier and two Iraqi civilians.

Two American soldiers appear to have been abducted in Iraq, defence officials said in Washington today.

An American soldier was killed and two others injured in an rocket propelled grenade attack on a military ambulance in Baghdad today.

BAGHDAD came under new bombardment last night. The intense sandstorm which has blanketed the city made it impossible to determine where the latest air strikes were hitting. There were no air raid alerts before the attack began.