IRAQ:Yesterday Iraq announced the capture more than a week ago of a senior aide to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as insurgents detonated a car bomb close to the offices of Iraqi interim Prime Minister Mr Iyad Allawi, wounding 10. Al-Zarqawi's terrorist organisation later claimed responsibility for the attack.
The capture of Abu Omar al-Kurdi, accused of masterminding some of the worst car bombings, is the first major breakthrough by Iraqi forces fighting al-Zarqawi's network.
Al-Kurdi is blamed for over 30 bombings, including the attack on UN offices in August 2003 which killed UN representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and 20 others. Critics pointed out that the timing of the announcement may be politically motivated, with national elections less than a week away.
"Kurdi has confessed to some 75 per cent of the car bombings that were used for attack in Baghdad since March 2003," said Mr Thair al-Naqib, a government spokesman. "Kurdi also confirmed he was responsible for some of the bloody attacks on the police," he said.
The announcement of al-Kurdi's arrest, along with a second militant leader, Nayef Abbas al-Zubaidi, came hours after a suicide bomb struck near Mr Allawi's office in western Baghdad. The Prime Minister was not in his offices at the time, officials said.
Sunni insurgents have staged regular attacks on those taking part in the elections, leading the government to announce sweeping security measures on polling day, including extended curfews and movement bans around the country.
On Sunday al-Zarqawi declared all-out war on the vote in an internet audio tape, in which he poured scorn on the Shia majority for embracing the poll and urged Sunnis to fight "infidel voters".
US and Iraqi forces said they were hunting al-Zarqawi in the former rebel stronghold of Falluja following a tip-off that he might have entered the city.
"We have heard he entered Falluja in a six-car convoy. We hear lots of rumours but we are not dismissing this," said Marine Captain Leonard Coleman. "We are on the lookout for Zarqawi as we continue protecting the people of Falluja."
Earlier Mr Allawi vowed his US-backed government would do everything possible to safeguard more than 5,000 polling stations against "evil forces determined to hurt Iraq".
Iraqi officials said Sunni guerrillas are not only trying to wreck the elections - expected to cement the new-found power of the long-oppressed 60 per cent Shia majority - but also want to provoke sectarian civil war.
Many Sunni leaders have called for an election boycott, saying insurgent attacks in the Sunni heartland will prevent voting and skew the outcome in favour of the Shias. A low Sunni turnout would undermine the credibility of the election.
The US ambassador to Iraq, Mr John Negroponte, predicted that Iraqis would be able to cast ballots in most of the country but acknowledged there would be problem areas.
US commanders have said four of Iraq's 18 provinces, accounting for a quarter of the population, are too unsafe for voting to go ahead there. - Additional reporting by Reuters