A woman suicide bomber blew herself up among a crowd of Shiite pilgrims, including Iranians, outside a shrine in northern Baghdad on Sunday, killing up to 40 people and wounding 72 others, an Interior Ministry source said.
A powerful explosion occurred before midday when a women detonated an explosive belt at a checkpoint at the entrance of the Bab al-Qeblah gate of Kadhim shrine in the Shiite neighborhood of Kadhimiyah, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The woman apparently targeted the Iranian group of pilgrims and killed 16 of …

British troops have taken a step closer to withdrawing from Iraq with the handover of one of its main airports.
Basra International Airport had been used as a UK military base during the conflict but the Iraqis have now resumed full control.
It came as the UN mandate for US and UK troops – put into place after the invasion in March 2003 – expired.
Iraq will now take greater control of its own security, but US and UK forces will remain under a new deal.
The transfer of the airport at Basra, the …

At least 20 people have been killed and dozens more wounded by a bomb that exploded among a crowd in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, security officials say.
The blast, which occurred around midday on Saturday, was so powerful it could be heard several kilometres away.
Qassim Attam, an army spokesman, said the explosion was in a car park used by commuters near a bus terminal in Kadhimiyah, northwest Baghdad, where people also gather at a Shia shrine on Saturdays.

Politicians from across the political divide will today demand an inquiry into the cost, causes and conduct of Britain’s operations in Iraq as Gordon Brown returns home after announcing the final withdrawal of troops from the country by July.
Opposition parties believe Mr Brown may allow the long-delayed inquiry to begin next summer but that it will not report until after the next general election, which could be as late as June 2010. Mr Brown will make a statement on Iraq to Parliament today.

At least two foreign contractors have been killed and 15 others wounded after a rocket fell near a UN compound in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, according to a UN official.
In a separate incident on Saturday, three people died and 13 others were injured when a car bomb went off in central Baghdad.

HILLA, Iraq : A suicide bomber shattered Friday prayers in a Shiite mosque south of Baghdad, killing nine people the day after Iraq’s parliament approved a landmark pact allowing US troops to remain until 2011.
The attack came as the hardline Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr declared three days of mourning to protest at parliament’s approval on Thursday of the accord, which will govern the presence of some 150,000 US troops across the country.

BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi soldier Wednesday sprayed automatic weapons fire at U.S. soldiers at an Iraqi military base in Mosul, killing two and wounding six before he died in a hail of bullets, an American general said. In Baghdad, bombers struck the capital for a third straight day, killing 23 people and wounding scores in a string of attacks in mostly Shiite areas.
Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, told The Associated Press the “premeditated” attack occurred in a courtyard as the soldiers waited for …

At least 28 people were killed, including women and schoolgirls, and dozens wounded in a triple bombing in a Baghdad market on Monday, the deadliest attack to rock the Iraqi capital in months, security officials said.
The attackers detonated a car bomb in the Sunni district of Adhamiyah, then minutes later a suicide bomber ran into the resulting melee and blew up, according to defence and interior ministry officials.
A third explosion caused by a roadside bomb around 30 metres (yards) from the first two blasts tore through the market moments …

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A triple bomb attack in a northeast Baghdad neighborhood killed 28 people and wounded 68 others on Monday, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said.
It was the deadliest attack in the capital city in almost four months.
First, a bomb inside a parked car exploded in a marketplace in the Kasrah section of the Adhamiya neighborhood, a ministry official said.

BAGHDAD – The deadly U.S. raid into Syria may complicate efforts to win approval for a new U.S.-Iraqi security deal by drawing attention to a fact many Iraqis detest — that they can’t control everything American forces might do.
Syrian officials say U.S. troops and helicopters launched the raid Sunday inside Syrian territory close to the Iraqi border, killing eight people.
The U.S. command in Baghdad would not comment, but a U.S. military official said American special forces targeted the network that smuggles fighters and weapons into Iraq. The official spoke …