Baghdad  - Thousands of people protested the sixth anniversary of the US-led occupation of Iraq in central Baghdad on Thursday.

Protesters affiliated with firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al- Sadr's movement braved driving rain to fill the streets of downtown Baghdad to mark the sixth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to US- led troops.

Protesters waved Iraqi flags and chanted "No, no to America," and "No, no to occupation" on Thursday.

Baghdad - Even as the second bombing in as many days struck a Shiite shrine in Baghdad Wednesday, many Iraqis welcomed US President Barack Obama's commitment to withdraw US soldiers from Iraq.

"Our role is to train Iraqis to take control of their own country so we can start bringing our folks home," Obama said, to rousing cheers from the US troops gathered to greet him during his four-hour trip to Baghdad Tuesday evening.

Baghdad - A car bomb exploded on Wednesday in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad district, killing at least seven people and wounding 23, al-Arabiya news channel reported.

The bombing is the second within two days in the same district. It took place near the holy Shiite shrine of Imam Mussa al-Kadhim.

On Tuesday a bomb exploded near the shrine killing eight people and wounding 18.

Tuesday's bomb coincided with a surprise visit to Iraq by US President Barack Obama and came a day after a string of seven bomb attacks.

Baghdad - An Iraqi court on Tuesday reduced the sentence passed against the journalist who threw his shoes at former US president George W Bush, the journalist's brother said.

The Iraqi Court of Cassation on Tuesday reduced from three years to one year the prison sentence passed by a previous court's March 12 decision on Muntadher al-Zaidi for throwing his shoes at Bush at a December 14 press conference in Baghdad, his brother told the German Press Agency dpa on Tuesday.

Baghdad - US President B

Baghdad - A man detonated explosives packed in his car as he approached a checkpoint in Falluja Tuesday, killing an Iraqi security officer and wounding nine other people, police said.

Falluja, some 70 kilometres west of Baghdad, was the site of intense fighting between US forces and Sunni insurgents, but has been quiet in recent months, thanks in part to the cooperation of Sunni militias known as "Awakening Councils" that joined with US and Iraqi authorities to fight insurgents there.