IRAQ: Guerrillas escalate their campaign in Basra which up to now had been spared the worst of the violence, reports Matt Spetalnick.
In the main hub of Iraq's Shia -dominated south, Sunni politicians work secluded in a heavily guarded compound on a street strewn with the wreckage of a recent suicide car bombing.
The Iraqi Islamic Party's fortress-like headquarters reflect the plight of Saddam Hussein's Sunni minority, increasingly embattled in the countdown to a January 30th election that majority Shias embrace but most Sunnis are shunning.
Bearded party leaders accuse US-led occupiers and Iraq's interim government of favouritism toward the Shias, who will cement their new-found hold on power after decades of oppression under Saddam.
They also complain of growing intimidation by militias run by Shia religious parties and fledgling security forces filling their ranks with mostly Shia recruits - trends that are deepening the Sunnis' sense of alienation.
Many Sunni Arabs, who made up the backbone of the ruling class under Saddam, are boycotting Iraq's first multiparty elections in nearly half a century because of a raging Sunni insurgency they say will make a fair vote impossible.
A low Sunni turnout could undermine the credibility of Iraq's new parliament and the constitution it will write.
"The election is a farce and we won't participate," said Mr Jamal Khazal Maki, the party's regional chief, in his ornate office as guards with AK-47 assault rifles stood watch outside.
Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, so far has been spared the worst of the violence that has shaken Baghdad and the Sunni heartland north and west of the capital.
But Sunni guerrillas are now escalating their campaign in the south, threatening coexistence in a city where Sunnis and Shias have long inter-married. No one is predicting civil war, but some residents fear growing sectarian strife.
Earlier this month, a suicide car bomber tried to strike an intelligence office of Basra's mostly Shia police force across the street from the Sunni compound.
The bomber killed only himself but the blast sent shattered glass knifing through the curtains in Mr Maki's office while he was out. The charred vehicle has yet to be towed away.
While Mr Maki condemns attacks on fellow Iraqis, he maintains that insurgents have a right to kill US and British troops.
"They are occupying Iraq illegally," he said.
Such comments reflect efforts to capitalise on surging anti-American sentiment among Sunnis and Shias alike over the lack of security and the slow pace of reconstruction.
Insurgents have mostly set their sights on Shias, killing hundreds of politicians and security men.
But Sunnis are also under threat. Sunni guerrillas have sometimes made an example of those who have joined the post-Saddam political process, branding them collaborators.
In the south, moderate Sunni leaders say they are being targeted by militiamen from Shia religious parties. Former Baathist officials have also been hit. Local Shia leaders deny their loyalists have been behind attacks.
Mr Maki's bodyguards recently foiled an assassination attempt against him by a carload of gunmen. "Here, the terrorists are not just Sunnis," he said.
Like many Sunnis, Mr Maki did not lament the ousting of Saddam but now resents the US-led occupation and what he sees as heavy-handed tactics meant to deny Sunnis their rights.
Mr Maki was only granted a seat on the provincial council after a bitter fight and says Sunnis are under-represented.
Although Sunnis make up 20 per cent of Iraq's population, they are 35 per cent of the inhabitants of Basra, a city of seemingly endless slums crisscrossed by rivers of raw sewage.
Against this tense political backdrop, Sunnis are facing growing pressure from the United States and Arab states to vote.
They are being warned that a boycott could leave them as marginalised as Shias were under Saddam.
US officials are looking for ways to include mainstream Sunnis in the process even if their representation falls short.
Still, the Sunnis could have effective veto power over Iraq's political future. Under the rules, if three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote against a draft constitution in an October referendum, the document can't go forward.