IRAQ: The Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, insisted yesterday that the election would go ahead as planned in three weeks' time despite growing calls for a delay. He said only a vote could lessen the violence.
The death toll in post-war Iraq climbed yet higher when three suicide bombers struck in separate towns, killing up to 28 people. In Mosul, a city in the north, an official from the mainstream Sunni party was assassinated.
There is growing disquiet within Mr Allawi's government over the scheduled January 30th election. Many of the biggest Sunni parties have withdrawn from the vote, leaving the minority community from which the violent insurgency has grown likely to be heavily under-represented in the new government.
Even the President, Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, has admitted that the current violence may make this month's vote unworkable.
Yesterday, however, Mr Allawi tried to draw a line under the debate and dismissed the publicly voiced concerns of several of his ministers. "Sometimes these statements don't reflect the point of view of the government," he said. "Sometimes they are personal statements."
He said he understood concerns about the current campaign of violence, which has killed nearly 100 Iraqis this week alone. But he added: "We will not allow violence and terrorists to derail this process in Iraq. The government and I personally encourage all Iraqis to participate in this democratic process.
"We believe the election will consolidate this process and preserve the unity of Iraq."
UN officials who are in Baghdad preparing the election say they expect it to go ahead as planned and, whatever the concerns, it would be difficult for the Iraqi government to go back on its commitment to the date, which is enshrined in Iraq's temporary constitution and endorsed by a UN resolution.
Mr Allawi named several suspected insurgents who had been arrested in recent weeks and said the Iraqi security forces were "achieving great successes".
"Anyone who tries to derail this process will be the only loser at the end," he said.
However, there is no questioning the depth of the security crisis into which Iraq has plunged. Mr Allawi spoke at a news conference held inside a building in the heavily fortified Green Zone, the US headquarters in Baghdad. Journalists had to pass through six identity or body checks, which included sniffer dogs, before being allowed into the room.
A suicide car bomber attacked a police graduation ceremony in Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing up to 20 people including at least 10 policemen. The latest government figures show that 1,300 Iraqi policemen died in the last four months of last year alone, an indication of how dangerous their work has become.
Another suicide bomber struck in Baghdad near a US military convoy, killing two Iraqi civilians. In Baquba, north of Baghdad, a third car bomb killed six at a checkpoint. - (Guardian service)