Iraq Briefing

The fight

* Allies continue strikes in the north, at Mosul, and the south, east of Baghdad. US warplanes bomb Iraqi positions near Khanaqin, northeast of the Iraqi capital. No anti-aircraft fire is reported.

* Iraqi frontlines hit between the key northern city of Kirkuk and the Kurdish rebel-held town of Chamchamal.

* US Marines are stuck outside the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, key to opening a second route north to Baghdad, after significant casualties.

* US officials have not yet confirmed if a factory discovered near Najaf, 160km south of Baghdad, was capable of making chemical weapons. The UN says inspectors are unaware of any factory in the area.

* A US Apache helicopter was shot down near Karbala, 110km south of Baghdad. The fate of the two crew was not clear. Five Syrians on a bus heading home from Iraq died when the vehicle was hit by a missile apparently fired from a US warplane. Friendly fire

* An ITN reporter is confirmed dead after apparently being fired upon by coalition forces. Two cameramen are missing. ITN says coalition forces may have mistaken the TV crew for Iraqi irregulars.

* The US soldier suspected of killing a fellow soldier and wounding 15 others is Sergeant Asan Akbar, of an engineering battalion.

* Close to the Kuwait border, an American Patriot missile battery destroys a British Tornado as it returns from a night-time bombing mission. Two British airmen are killed.

Protests

* About 400 anti-war protesters attempt to storm Canberra's Parliament House, demanding Prime Minister John Howard bring Australian troops home.

Support

* The Australian Defence Force admits it has received negative messages intended for its soldiers in Iraq, but it has forwarded only the positive messages out of 6500 emails and faxes.

* Demonstrators gather at pro-military events around the US. About 10,000 turn out in Glen Allen, Virginia, and 3000 in Chicago.

Non-combat casualties

* Two US Marines are killed in separate accidents in Iraq, one in a vehicle accident and one by the accidental discharge of a machine-gun.

Baghdad

* China has given the US the address of its embassy in Baghdad in the hope of avoiding a repeat of the deadly 1999 bombing of its mission in Belgrade.