March 20:

-- The United States launches war on Iraq with limited air strikes on Baghdad, after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein rejects a US deadline to leave the country

March 21:

-- The United States fires 1,000 cruise missiles on hundreds of targets in Baghdad and elsewhere

March 23:

-- US air raids pound Baghdad, the northern city of Mosul and positions held by Kurdish Islamist group allegedly linked to al-Qaeda

March 24:

-- Iraq's northern oil capital of Kirkuk is rocked by 24 hours of bombardment

March 25:

-- British and US forces take control of Umm Qasr

March 27:

-- 1,000 US paratroopers parachute into the Kurdish-held north

March 28:

-- At least 30 people are killed in an air strike on a busy Baghdad market, Iraq says

March 31:

-- US forces report their first serious battle with the Republican Guard, south of Baghdad

April 1:

-- US forces shoot dead seven women and children at a military checkpoint

April 3:

-- US troops reach Baghdad airport, 20 kilometres (13 miles) from the city centre

April 6:

-- 18 Kurds are killed and 45 wounded near Arbil in northern Iraq when US aircraft mistakenly bomb a Kurdish-US convoy

April 7:

-- US forces move into Baghdad and seize several presidential palaces

April 9:

-- US Marines help Iraqis pull down a huge statue of Saddam in central Baghdad, as scenes of jubilation spread throughout the capital

April 10

-- US-backed Kurdish forces seize the heart of the northern oil city of Kirkuk without a fight

-- Iraqis begin widespread looting of ministries, shops and museums across Baghdad

April 11

-- The United States issues a list of its 55 most-wanted Iraqis

April 12

-- Saddam's chief weapons advisor, Lieutenant General Amer al-Saadi, turns himself in to US forces and insists the ousted regime did not have weapons of mass destruction

April 13

-- US troops enter Saddam's ancestral home town of Tikrit

-- Bush accuses Syria of having chemical weapons and warns it must cooperate with US forces to eradicate the last remnants of Saddam's regime

-- Seven US prisoners of war, the last remaining POWs in Iraqi hands, are found in good shape by US troops

April 14

-- US forces take control of Tikrit, effectively ending the military campaign

-- US Central Command says all Iraqi oil wells are under the control of US and British forces

-- Iraqi police escorted by US soldiers begin first joint patrols in Baghdad

April 15

-- Fifteen people are killed in Mosul by US troops, witnesses say. US forces later admit to shooting dead seven people

-- Washington threatens Syria with diplomatic and economic sanctions amid reports Damascus has given refuge to fleeing Iraqi officials

April 17

-- US-led forces arrest Barzan al-Tikriti, half-brother of Saddam Hussein

-- Two Iraqis with close ties to the opposition Iraqi National Congress, Mohammed Mohsen Zubeidi and Jaudat Obeidi, declare themselves governor and mayor of Baghdad, respectively. US forces say their appointments were not approved by Washington

April 18

-- Thousands of Iraqis stage anti-US protests

April 20

-- The opposition Iraqi National Congress says Jamal Mustafa Abdullah, deputy head of the tribal affairs office and a son-in-law of Saddam, has surrendered.

April 21

-- Retired US general Jay Garner, the US administrator for Iraq, arrives in Baghdad and vows to restore water and power as soon as possible

-- Hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims gather in the holy city of Karbala for a pilgrimage suppressed under Saddam

-- The graves of nearly 1,000 political prisoners are discovered near Baghdad

-- The US military says it has arrested Mohammed Hamza al-Zubaidi, a key member of Saddam's inner circle and number 18 on Washington's most-wanted list

April 22

-- US forces confirm they are holding Jamal Mustafa Abdullah Sultan, one of Saddam's sons-in-law

-- US Central Command confirms US forces have reached a ceasefire agreement with the Iraq-based Iranian armed opposition group, the People's Mujahedeen.

-- France calls at the United Nations Security Council for the suspension of economic sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990 but says they can only be scrapped altogether -- which the US wants -- if the UN certifies Iraq is free of banned weapons

April 23

-- US Secretary of State Colin Powell says France will face consequences for its opposition to the war in Iraq

-- The White House says economic sanctions on Iraq must be lifted, "not merely suspended", an apparent rebuff of Paris' proposal to the Security Council

-- The People's Mujahedeen says a ceasefire agreement reached with US forces lets them keep their arms while maintaining their war against the Iranian government

April 24

-- United States says Iraqi government ministries will reopen in a week and oil is again flowing from wells but only for Iraqi use

-- The United States announces the capture of four more key members of Saddam's inner circle, while Iran warns patrolling US troops not to violate its border with Iraq

April 25

-- Saddam's deupty prime minister, Tareq Aziz, has surrendered to US forces, the US military says

-- US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warns the United States will not allow a pro-Iranian regime to take power in Baghdad

April 26

-- At least six members of the same family are killed after a stash of Iraqi arms explodes in Baghdad, prompting angry anti-US demonstrations in the capital

-- US forces secure an airfield in the northeastern city of Baqubah near the Iranian border

April 27

-- Rumsfeld arrives in the Gulf region ahead of an expected visit to Iraq

-- The US military announces the capture of the Iraqi official in charge of liaising with UN weapons inspectors, General Hossam Mohammad Amin

-- US Central Command says it has arrested self-proclaimed Baghdad governor Mohammad Mohsen Zubeidi "to prevent his continued misrepresentation of his authority", insisting US-led forces will remain the sole authority in Iraq until a government is formed

-- US officials say they are making every effort to restore basic services to Baghdad, as electricity supplies remain sporadic and rubbish piles up

-- Four US soldiers are injured in Baghdad when their vehicle is attacked while stopped in traffic

April 28

-- Around 250 Iraqis from across the political spectrum agree at a conference hosted by US administrator Jay Garner to try and form an interim government within a month, as thousands of angry Shiites rally to demand more influence over the country's future

-- Joyous crowds in the Shiite-dominated Sadr district of Baghdad (formerly Saddam City) "celebrate" Saddam's 66th birthday by dressing a donkey up as their toppled president

-- Amer Mohammad Rashid al-Ubaidi, a former oil minister and weapons adviser to Saddam, gives himself up to US-led coalition forces, US Central Command says

-- Tareq Aziz tells his US captors Saddam was still alive in early April, a US official says

-- Donald Rumsfeld visits politicians and US troops in Saudi Arabia and the US military announces it is moving its combined air command centre from the country to neighbouring Qatar

-- US President George W. Bush tells Iraqi exiles in Michigan their country "can be an example of peace and prosperity and freedom to the entire Middle East" and will have "a steady friend in the American people"

April 29

-- Witnesses say US troops shot dead 13 Iraqis, at least six of them children, during a celebration on Monday to mark Saddam Hussein's birthday, even though the US soldiers were "not threatened by the demonstrators"

-- Jay Garner begins talks with Iraqi officials in Baghdad on security and the renewal of basic services

-- The United States says it will increase military patrols in Baghdad to increase security

-- Top international experts in Mesopotamian antiquities meet in London to discuss ways to save Iraq's cultural heritage following the looting of the country's museums

SPACE.WIRE