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"Holding free and fair elections on time is an
obligation that we have undertaken towards the Iraqi
people," he said. But he added: "Nearer the time,
the Iraqi government, the United Nations, the
independent election commission and the national
assembly will have to engage in a real and
hard-headed dialogue to assess the situation."
It is the first time a senior figure in the interim
government has acknowledged that the dire security
situation in large parts of the country could affect
the political process.
Yesterday, as US troops widened their control of the
insurgent bastion of Falluja, marines found what
appeared to be the mutilated body of a western
woman. Only two foreign women are being held by
kidnappers: Margaret Hassan, 59, the British-Iraqi
director of the charity Care International, and
Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish woman who has
lived in Iraq for many years.
One officer said he was "80% sure" the body was a
western woman. It was found in the street, covered
with a cloth soaked in blood.
Meanwhile, the Arab satellite TV network al-Jazeera,
quoting unidentified sources, reported that an
Islamist group had freed two women relatives of the
interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, but were still
holding his cousin hostage.
Although the elections may be only weeks away, Mr
Salih said he hoped that by then the violent
rebellion that has gripped Iraq since America's
invasion last year would have diminished. "My hope
is we will have stabilised many of the areas that
have become pockets of foreign fighters and
insurgents, because it is vital that every Iraqi
citizen is able to exercise the basic right to
choose a government that has been denied to them for
so long," he said.
Yesterday, however, there was continued violence in
other parts of the country, including Mosul in the
north, Ramadi and Baghdad, and there was still
fighting in some parts of Falluja.
US and Iraqi troops went house to house through
other districts looking for weapons and hidden
fighters in the city and soldiers from the 1st
Infantry Division destroyed underground bunkers in
the city's south-east used by insurgents to store
supplies.
"The city has been seized," General John Abizaid, of
US central command, said. "We have liberated the
city of Falluja." But it could take several days of
fighting to clear pockets of resistance, he added.
Lieutenant General John Sattler, commander of the
1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said: "The
perception of Falluja being a safe haven for
terrorists, that perception and the reality of it
will be completely wiped off before the conclusion
of this operation."
The US military said 38 American soldiers had died
in the six-day offensive to recapture Falluja, and
275 had been wounded. Mr Allawi said 400 insurgents
had been arrested, while one American commander told
Associated Press that 1,200 insurgents had been
killed. There was no information on civilian
casualties, but a convoy of food and medical
supplies brought on Saturday by the Iraqi Red
Crescent was not allowed to enter the city. A second
Red Crescent convoy will take food and supplies
today to the thousands of refugees living in often
appalling conditions in villages around Falluja.
There is a growing concern that the minority Sunni
community, from which the most extreme elements of
the insurgency have emerged, will not take part in
the elections. The influential Muslim Clerics
Association has ordered a boycott of the vote, and
the Iraqi Islamic party, a mainstream Sunni
political group, has pulled out of the government.
There is also the logistical problem of securing the
estimated 7,000 to 9,000 polling centres across
Iraq. Elections will be held for the 275-seat Iraqi
parliament and for the Kurdistan regional assembly
at the same time. "Holding elections will be a great
challenge," said Mr Salih, the former prime minister
of the Kurdistan regional government in Sulaymaniya.
Violence persisted in other areas. Insurgents seized
control of the Sheikh Fatih police station in the
northern city of Mosul, and also burned down the
governor's house. At least six Iraqi national
guardsmen were killed and three injured.
Last night explosions and heavy gunfire echoed
across central Baghdad. A rocket landed near hotels
and houses used by foreign contractors and
journalists, although there appeared to be no
casualties.
More than a dozen insurgents attacked the Polish
embassy in Baghdad with automatic weapons. No one
was reported killed or wounded.
US helicopters and tanks fired at targets in Baiji,
a northern city that houses Iraq's biggest oil
refinery.
http://www.guardian.co.uk
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