Baghdad - Dozens of Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders gathered on Tuesday to protest the visit of the former president of Iran, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to Iraq.

Rafsanjani, who was president of Iran following the 1980-88 Iran- Iraq war and was parliamentary speaker during the conflict, is now chairman of an influential advisory committee in the Iranian government. He was described by the protestors as the "killer of Iraqis."

Baghdad - The Iraqi High Tribunal on Monday sentenced former senior Iraqi official Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali", to death for his role in the 1999 crackdown on Shiite Iraqis following the killing of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad al-Sadr.

Al-Sadr's supporters blame the intelligence agencies of the former regime of Saddam Hussein for his death. Al-Majid, a cousin of Saddam, served as intelligence chief and defence minister at the time.

Baghdad (Iraq), Mar. 2 : The general who has spearheaded Britain''s two longest and most controversial wars of the past 60 years, claimed today that the army will leave Iraq with al-Qaida largely defeated and the roots of democracy firmly planted.

Lieutenant-General John Cooper, who stands down tomorrow as deputy commanding general in Iraq and also retires from the army after more than 30 years, said Basra, which the British will leave by early summer, is back on its feet and buttressed from any militia resurgence.

Lt. Gen. Cooper believes January''s nationwide provincial elections were a turning point and said Iraq would be handed over in better shape than when Britain invaded six years ago.

Baghdad - Iran's former President, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani arrived i

Tehran  - Iran's supreme leader on Saturday warned Iraq over the prolonged presence of US forces in that country, the Iranian media reported.

"The occupiers are preparing grounds for a long and enduring presence in Iraq and this is a big danger of which the Iraqi officials should be aware," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Baghdad - Six Iraqis were wounded Saturday in a bomb blast that targeted a police patrol vehicle in Baghdad, police said.

Three patrolmen were among the injured in the explosion in the capital's southeastern al-Zafaraniya district, a police source told Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Meanwhile, three al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders were arrested during a security operation near Baquba city, according to a local police chief.

Iraqi police conducted a security operation that targeted strongholds of the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq" in al-Azeem area 15 kilometres north of Baquba, the source told VOI.