Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has insisted that the general election will go ahead as planned in three weeks’ time, despite growing calls for a delay.
He said only an election will lessen the violence.
Three suicide bombers struck in separate towns on Wednesday, killing more than 20 people. In Mosul, an official of the mainstream Sunni party was assassinated.
There is growing disquiet in Allawi’s government about the elections scheduled for January 30.
Many of the bigger Sunni parties have withdrawn from the campaign, leaving the minority community from which the violent insurgency has grown likely to be heavily under-represented in the National Assembly.
Even the President, Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, has admitted that the violence may make the election unworkable.
On Wednesday, Allawi dismissed the publicly voiced concern 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 understands concern at the violence, which has killed nearly 100 Iraqis this week alone. But: ”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.”
United Nations officials in Baghdad to prepare the election say they expect it to go ahead, and, whatever the concern, it will be difficult for the Iraqi government to go back on the date, enshrined in the temporary Constitution and endorsed by a UN resolution.
Allawi named several suspected insurgents arrested in recent weeks and said the security forces are ”achieving great successes”.
”Anyone who tries to derail this process will be the only loser at the end,” he said.
But there is no questioning the depth of the security crisis.
Allawi spoke inside a building in the heavily fortified Green Zone surrounding the United States headquarters in Baghdad. Journalists had to pass through six separate identity or body checks, including sniffer dogs, before being allowed into the room where he was.
A suicide car bomber on Wednesday attacked a police graduation ceremony in Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing at least 15 people, including at least 10 police officers. The militant Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility.
The latest government figures show 1 300 Iraqi police officers died in the final four months of last year alone.
Another suicide bomber struck in Baghdad near a US convoy, killing two Iraqi civilians. In Baquba, north of Baghdad, a third car bomb killed six at a checkpoint. Earlier, a police colonel and his driver were shot dead in the town. The US said six soldiers were also killed on Tuesday.
In the northern city of Mosul, Omar Mahmoud Abdallah, an official of the Iraqi Islamic party — the mainstream Sunni grouping — was found shot dead. In another incident, a prominent Iraqi union leader, Hadi Salih, was shot dead at his Baghdad home. — Guardian Unlimited Â