LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Iraqis crowded into banks on Wednesday to swap tattered banknotes for crisp new currency issued by the U.S.-led administration, which is seeking to erase the image of Saddam Hussein from postwar Iraq.

Here is a short chronology of events in Iraq since the war to topple Saddam started.

March 20 - U.S. launches war against Iraq with selective strikes on Baghdad targeting "very senior" leadership.

April 9 - U.S. forces sweep into Baghdad as Saddam Hussein's 24-year rule crumbles into chaos and looting. On May 1 U.S. President George W. Bush says major fighting in Iraq is over.

May 6 - Bush names former State Department counter terrorism chief Paul Bremer as the top civil administrator for Iraq.

May 11 - The U.S. commander of coalition forces in Iraq tells Iraqis that Saddam's Baath Party is dissolved.

July 13 - A 25-member U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council holds its inaugural meeting in Baghdad.

July 22 - U.S. military confirms that Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay, were killed in a gun battle in Mosul.

Aug 7 - A truck bomb explodes outside the Jordanian embassy compound in Baghdad, killing at least 17 people.

Aug 19 - A massive truck bomb devastates the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. Twenty-two people are killed including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top U.N. envoy to Iraq.

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

Sept 1 - The Governing Council appoints 25 key ministers to run the day-to-day work of the ministries.

Sept 9 - The Governing Council takes a step towards international legitimacy after its delegate occupied Iraq's vacant seat at an Arab League ministerial meeting in Cairo.

Sept 21 - Iraq unveils sweeping reforms allowing foreign investors into all sectors except oil, ending 30 years of state economic control.

Sept 25 - Akila al-Hashemi, a member of the Governing Council, dies from wounds sustained in a gun attack on Sept 20.

Oct 12 - Iraq's oil minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum and his aide Nabeel Musawi survive an assassination attempt in central Baghdad.

Oct 15 - Iraq adopts its new currency banishing the face of Saddam.