2002 September : US President George W Bush tells sceptical world leaders at a UN General Assembly session to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Iraq or stand aside as the US acts. In the same month British Prime Minister Tony Blair publishes a dossier on Iraq's military capability. November : UN weapons inspectors return to Iraq backed by a UN resolution which threatens serious consequences if Iraq is in "material breach" of its terms. March : Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix reports that Iraq has accelerated its cooperation but says inspectors need more time to verify Iraq's compliance. 2003 17 March : UK's ambassador to the UN says the diplomatic process on Iraq has ended; arms inspectors evacuate; US President George W Bush gives Saddam Hussein and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war. 20 March : American missiles hit targets in Baghdad, marking the start of a US-led campaign to topple Saddam Hussein. In the following days US and British ground troops enter Iraq from the south. 9 April : US forces advance into central Baghdad. Saddam Hussein's grip on the city is broken. In the following days Kurdish fighters and US forces take control of the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul. There is looting in Baghdad and elsewhere. April : US lists 55 most-wanted members of the former regime in the form of a deck of cards. Former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz is taken into custody. May : UN Security Council backs US-led administration in Iraq and lifts economic sanctions. US administrator abolishes Baath Party and institutions of former regime. July : US-appointed Governing Council meets for the first time. Commander of US forces says his troops face low-intensity guerrilla-style war. Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay killed in gun battle in Mosul. August : Deadly bomb attacks on Jordanian Embassy and UN headquarters in Baghdad. Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan Al-Majid, or Chemical Ali, captured. Car bomb in Najaf kills 125 including Shia leader Ayatollah Mohamed Baqir Al-Hakim. 14 December : Saddam Hussein captured in Tikrit. 2004 February : More than 100 killed in Irbil in suicide attacks on offices of main Kurdish factions. March : Suicide bombers attack Shia pilgrims in Karbala and Baghdad, killing 140 people. April-May : Shia militias loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr take on coalition forces. Hundreds are reported killed in fighting during the month-long US military siege of the Sunni Muslim city of Falluja. June : US hands sovereignty to interim government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Saddam Hussein transferred to Iraqi legal custody. August : Fighting in Najaf between US forces and Shia militia of radical cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr. November : Major US-led offensive against insurgents in Falluja. 2005 30 January : An estimated eight million people vote in elections for a Transitional National Assembly. The Shia United Iraqi Alliance wins a majority of assembly seats. Kurdish parties come second. 28 February : At least 114 people are killed by a massive car bomb in Hilla, south of Baghdad. It is the worst single such incident since the US-led invasion. April : Amid escalating violence, parliament selects Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as president. Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shia, is named as prime minister. May onwards : Surge in car bombings, bomb explosions and shootings: Iraqi ministries put the civilian death toll for May at 672, up from 364 in April. June : Massoud Barzani is sworn in as regional president of Iraqi Kurdistan. July : Study compiled by the non-governmental Iraq Body Count organisation estimates that nearly 25,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the 2003 US-led invasion. August : Draft constitution is endorsed by Shia and Kurdish negotiators, but not by Sunni representatives. More than 1,000 people are killed during a stampede at a Shia ceremony in Baghdad. September : 182 people are killed in attacks in Baghdad, including a car bomb attack on a group of workers in a mainly-Shia district. October : Saddam Hussein goes on trial on charges of crimes against humanity. Voters approve a new constitution, which aims to create an Islamic federal democracy. 15 December : Iraqis vote for the first, full-term government and parliament since the US-led invasion. 2006 20 January : Shia-led United Iraqi Alliance emerges as the winner of December's parliamentary elections, but fails to gain an absolute majority. February onwards : A bomb attack on an important Shia shrine in Samaraa unleashes a wave of sectarian violence in which hundreds of people are killed. 22 April : Newly re-elected President Talabani asks Shia compromise candidate Jawad Al-Maliki to form a new government. The move ends four months of political deadlock. May and June : An average of more than 100 civilians per day are killed in violence in Iraq, the UN says. 7 June : Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is killed in an air strike. September : A much-anticipated ceremony to transfer operational command from US-led forces to Iraq's new army is postponed. November : Saddam Hussein is found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death. Iraq and Syria restore diplomatic relations after nearly a quarter century. More than 200 die in car bombings in the mostly Shia area of Sadr City in Baghdad. An indefinite curfew is imposed after what is considered the worst attack on the capital since the US-led invasion of 2003. December : Iraq Study Group report making recommendations to President Bush on future policy in Iraq describes the situation as grave and deteriorating. It warns of the prospect of a slide towards chaos, triggering the collapse of the government and a humanitarian catastrophe. 30 December : Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging. 2007 January : US President Bush announces a new Iraq strategy; thousands more US troops will be dispatched to shore up security in Baghdad. Barzan Ibrahim (Saddam Hussein's half-brother) and Awad Hamed Al-Bandar, former head of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging. UN says more than 34,000 civilians were killed in violence during 2006; the figure surpasses official Iraqi estimates threefold. February : Bomb in Baghdad's Sadriya market kills more than 130 people. It is the worst single bombing since 2003. March : Insurgents detonate three trucks with toxic chlorine gas in Falluja and Ramadi, injuring hundreds. Former Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan is executed on the fourth anniversary of the US-led invasion. 12 April : Bomb blast rocks parliament, killing an MP. 18 April : Bombings in Baghdad kill nearly 200 people in the worst day of violence since a US- led security drive began in the capital in February. May : Leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq Abu Ayoub Al-Masri is reported killed. July : President Bush says only limited military and political progress in Iraq following his decision to reinforce US troops levels there. August : The main Sunni Arab political bloc in Iraq, the Iraqi Accordance Front, withdraws from the cabinet, plunging the government into crisis. Truck and car bombs hit two villages of Yazidi Kurds, killing at least 250 people -- the deadliest attack since 2003. Kurdish and Shia leaders form an alliance to support Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki's government but fail to bring in Sunni leaders. September : Controversy over private security contractors after Blackwater security guards allegedly fire at civilians, killing 17. October : Turkish parliament gives the go-ahead for military operations in Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels. Turkey comes under international pressure to avoid an invasion. The number of violent civilian and military deaths continues to drop, as does the frequency of rocket attacks. Karbala, the mainly Shia province, becomes the 18th province to be transferred to local control. December : Turkey launches an air raid on fighters from the Kurdish PKK movement inside Iraq. Britain hands over security of Basra province to Iraqi forces, effectively marking the end of nearly five years of British control of southern Iraq. 2008 January : Parliament passes legislation allowing former officials from Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to return to public life. February : Suicide bombings at pet markets in Baghdad kill more than 50 people in the deadliest attacks in the capital in months. Turkish forces mount a ground offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. March : Unprecedented two-day visit by Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Iraq.
