IRAQ: Four US soldiers died in a bomb attack and gunmen assassinated a high-profile Sunni Muslim politician yesterday, in a stark reminder of Iraq's insecurity two days before a watershed election.
The American soldiers were killed in a bomb attack on their patrol northwest of Baghdad, the military said. No other details were immediately available.
Mizhar al-Dulaimi, who ran his own political party, was shot dead as he campaigned in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, police said. Three of his bodyguards were wounded. He was the latest of several influential Sunni Muslims, including a senior cleric, to be killed ahead of tomorrow's poll, as militants try to sabotage the US-backed political process.
US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad condemned Mr Dulaimi's murder and urged Iraqis to vote for the first full-term parliament since Saddam Hussein's fall. "While I encourage participation from all," he said, "the United States does not endorse any candidate."
The deaths of Mr Dulaimi and the US soldiers came a day after the first votes were cast in the election - detainees, Iraqi security forces and hospital patients voted on Monday - and as Iraqis abroad also began to vote.
More than 15 million are registered to vote in what the poll's supporters hope will be a turning point, ushering in a four-year 275-seat parliament and a new government to tackle rampant violence as foreign forces begin to withdraw.
Security for the election will be stringent, with borders and airspace closed and travel between provinces banned.
More than 150,000 Iraqi police and soldiers will ring 6,000 polling sites, and the next five days are a national holiday.
Militant groups have told Iraqis not to go to the polls, calling the election a "Satanic project".
The election is expected to see far higher participation than last time among the Sunni Arab minority, who form the backbone of the two-year insurgency against the government and US forces. The Sunnis largely boycotted January's poll, which is now seen as a mistake.
Sunnis, powerful under Saddam, saw their influence greatly undermined and Sunni leaders are now determined to make amends for the error.