CHRONOLOGY-Iraq from invasion to brink of civil war

March 11 (Reuters) - Following is a chronology of key events in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein.



March 20, 2003 - U.S. and British forces invade from Kuwait.

April 9 - U.S. troops take Baghdad, Saddam disappears.

July 13 - The Iraqi Governing Council -- 25 Iraqis chosen under U.S. supervision -- holds inaugural meeting in Baghdad.

Aug. 19 - Suicide truck bomb wrecks U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people, including U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Aug. 29 - A car bomb kills at least 83 people, including top Shi'ite Muslim leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf.

Dec. 13 - U.S. troops capture Saddam near Tikrit. U.S. governor Paul Bremer breaks news with: "We got him."

March 2, 2004 - 171 people are killed in twin attacks in Baghdad and Kerbala.

March 8 - Iraq Governing Council signs interim constitution.

June 1 - Governing Council dissolved to make way for interim government led by Iyad Allawi. Ghazi al-Yawar named president.

June 28 - United States formally returns sovereignty. Coalition Provisional Authority dissolved. Bremer leaves Iraq.

Jan. 30, 2005 - Shi'ite-led United Alliance dominates election for interim parliament. Most Sunnis don't vote.

March 16 - National Assembly holds first meeting.

Oct. 15 - Referendum ratifies constitution by 78 percent despite Sunni Arab opposition which nearly vetoes it.

Oct. 19 - Saddam Hussein goes on trial charged with crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shi'ite men and boys in Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt. He pleads not guilty.

Dec. 15 - Parliamentary election. Sunnis vote in strength.

Feb. 10, 2006 - Final results give Shi'ite Alliance near majority with 128 seats. Sunnis have 58 and Kurds 53.

Feb. 22 - Destruction of Shi'ite shrine in Samarra sparks widespread sectarian violence, raising fears of civil war.

May 21 - New Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki chairs first cabinet meeting.

June 7 - U.S. aircraft kill al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Nov. 5 - A court in Baghdad finds Saddam guilty of crimes against humanity and sentences him to hang over Dujail killings.

Nov. 23, 2006 - Six car bombs in different parts of the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad kill 202 people.

Dec. 30 - Saddam is executed.

Feb 14 - Maliki launches U.S.-backed security crackdown in Baghdad aimed at pulling Iraq back from brink of civil war.

March 27 - A truck bomb explodes in Tal Afar, close to the northern city of Mosul, killing 152 people.

April 18 - Multiple car bombings kill 191 people around Baghdad. At the Sadriya market, one bomb alone kills 140 people.

May 28 - Iranian and U.S. ambassadors to Iraq meet in Baghdad to discuss ways to improve security in the country. The talks end a three-decade diplomatic freeze between the two foes.

June 15 - U.S. military says it has completed its troop buildup, or "surge", to 160,000 soldiers.

Aug. 1 - The main Sunni Arab bloc pulls out of Maliki's cabinet, plunging the government into crisis.

Aug. 14 - Truck bombings against the minority Yazidi community in northern Iraq kill 411 people, the government says. The bombings are the deadliest militant attacks in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion.

Aug. 29 - Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr suspends the activities of the Mehdi Army militia for six months after clashes with police affiliated with a rival Shi'ite faction.

Sept. 3 - U.S. President George W. Bush makes a surprise visit to Iraq, and raises the prospect of troop cuts in the wake of falls in violence.

Sept. 10 - The U.S. military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, recommends cutting American troops by more than 20,000 by mid-2008 in much anticipated testimony to Congress.

Sept. 13 - Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, a Sunni Arab tribal leader instrumental in driving al Qaeda out of Anbar province, is killed in a bomb attack.

Jan. 12, 2008 - Parliament votes to let thousands of members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party return to government jobs, winning praise from Washington for achieving a benchmark step toward reconciling warring sects.

Feb. 21 - Thousands of Turkish troops cross into northern Iraq with thousands more at the border ready to join them in their hunt for Kurdish PKK guerrillas. Eight days later Turkish armed forces withdraw. The army said that it killed 242 rebels out of 300 targeted in the operation and PKK communications were cut.

March 6 - Two bombs explode in Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite Karrada district, killing at least 68 people. Another 120 were wounded in the blasts.

(Writing by David Cutler, Editing by Dean Yates, London Editorial Reference Unit)