BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber struck the Baghdad headquarters of Iraq's biggest Shi'ite political party, killing three people, as the government announced plans to close borders and restrict movements to bolster security in the national election. Three candidates were slain as insurgents intensified their campaign to subvert the ballot.
The cabinet member responsible for internal security urged fellow Sunni Arabs to disregard threats by Sunni extremists and vote in the January 30 election, in which Iraqis will choose a 275-member National Assembly and regional legislatures. Otherwise, the minister warned, the country will slide into civil war.
Early on January 19, a car bomb exploded outside the cement blast barriers of the Australian Embassy in central Baghdad, killing two people and wounding four, police and witnesses said. No Australian embassy personnel were killed or injured in the explosion, said a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman in the Australian capital Canberra.
In a positive development, a Catholic archbishop kidnapped in northern Iraq was released on January 18 without payment of ransom, the Vatican said. Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, an Iraqi, said he believes he was kidnapped by mistake.
But an American soldier was killed on January 18 in a roadside bombing in Baghdad, and more foreigners were reported kidnapped, including Lebanese businessman Jebrail Adeeb Azar and eight Chinese construction workers.
The suicide driver detonated his vehicle after security guards stopped it at a checkpoint in front of offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Republic in Iraq, one of the major groups contesting the election. The Shi'ite party, known as SCIRI, has close ties to Iran and is strongly opposed by Sunni Muslim militants.
Iraqi police said the bomber and two others died and nine people were wounded, including three police. The blast gouged a crater in the pavement, left several vehicles in flames and spread shredded debris on the street in the Jadriyah district.
"SCIRI will not be frightened by such an act," party spokesman Ridha Jawad said. "SCIRI will continue the march toward building Iraq, establishing justice and holding the elections."
Sunni Muslim militants, who make up the bulk of Iraq's insurgents, have stepped up attacks on Shi'ites to frighten them into staying home on election day. Although many Sunni clerics and others oppose the election, Shi'ite leaders have told their followers that voting is their religious duty.
Shi'ites comprise about 60 per cent of Iraq's 26 million people and are expected to gain the political power long denied them by the Sunni Arab community, estimated at about 20 per cent. Large turnouts are expected in the Shi'ite heartland south of Baghdad and in Kurdish-controlled regions of the north.
Insurgents have warned people to stay away from the polls and have threatened candidates. Gunmen shot and killed three candidates, officials said on January 18. Two of them belonged to Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's political coalition, the Iraqi National Accord.
Alaa Hamid, who was running for the National Assembly, was killed on January 17 in Iraq's second largest city, Basra, an official said. Hamid was also the deputy chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee in Basra, which had been relatively quiet.
Riad Radi, who was contesting the local race for Basra's provincial council, died on January 16 when masked gunmen fired on his car as he was driving with his family, the official said.
The third candidate, Shaker Jabbar Sahla, was shot dead in Baghdad on January 17. He was a Shi'ite running for the National Assembly on the Constitutional Monarchy Movement ticket, headed by a cousin of Iraq's last king.
US and Iraqi officials fear that a Sunni boycott could cast doubt on the legitimacy of a new government, heighten tensions between Shi'ites and Sunnis and fuel the Sunni-led insurgency.
On January 18, Interior Minister Flash Hassan al-Naqib, a Sunni, told reporters he expects Sunni insurgents to escalate attacks before the election, especially in the Baghdad area, to discourage a big voter turnout.
"If any group does not participate in the elections, it will constitute treason," al-Naqib said, adding that "boycotting the elections will not produce a National Assembly that represents the Iraqi people" but instead will bring on "a civil war that will divide the country."
To curb election day violence, Iraqi authorities announced they will close the nation's borders for three days starting January 29, restrict travel inside the country and expand the hours of the nighttime curfew. About 300,000 Iraqi and multinational troops will provide security - with Iraq's fledgling forces taking the primary role.
In the run-up to the election, US troops have increased raids in insurgency flashpoints, arresting scores of suspected guerrillas. Hundreds of troops from the US Army's 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment have been dispatched to Mosul, the main northern city and an insurgent stronghold.
(Agencies via Xinhua)
