Special reports: Al-Qaida's chief Zarqawi killed 

                              Tension accelerates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi security force has captured the second most senior leader in the al-Qaida Organization in Iraq, National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie said on Sunday.

    "The Iraqi security forces backed by multinational forces captured Hamid al-Suaidi, also know as Abu Humam or Abu Rana in Baghdad," Rubaie told a news conference.

    He said the man was the deputy of abu Ayyub al-Masri, who took over the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq after former leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by the U.S. troops in June.

    "He was hiding in a building used by a family, and he wanted to use innocent children and women as human shields when our forces tried to capture him," Rubaie said.

    "I can confirm that al-Qaida in Iraq in severely hurt," Rubaie added.

    Iraqi and U.S. officials have blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for some of the bloodiest attacks in the country. Enditem

Bush denies there's civil war in Iraq

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush denied on Saturday there was a civil in Iraq, despite a Pentagon report admitted a day earlier that sectarian violence was spreading in the war-torn country and that the overall attacks and daily Iraqi civilian casualties had increased significantly. >>>

Pentagon says violence in Iraq increasing

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The overall attacks in Iraq rose 24 percent to 792 each week and the daily Iraqi civilian casualties increased by 51 percent to nearly 120 over the past three months, the U.S. Defense Department said Friday. >>>

Death toll in Baghdad bombings rises to 43

    BAGHDAD, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in a series of bombings, including one at a popular market, in eastern Baghdad on Thursday rose to 43, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua. A total of 160 people were wounded in the attacks. >>>