The United States’s most-wanted militant in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on Sunday declared he would wage a ”bitter war” against elections this week in a mounting campaign of intimidation and violence.
The warning came as coalition forces and Iraqi officials prepared for the countdown to Sunday’s poll by fine tuning details of the effective ”lockdown” of the country.
Unprecedented security precautions will see a ban on civilian traffic on election day, the closure of Baghdad’s airport and all land border crossings as well as a three-day nationwide curfew.
All leave for Iraqi police and security forces has been cancelled and anyone violating the strict temporary regime is being threatened with arrest.
The measures are aimed at persuading a healthy turnout by a population which is receiving daily reminders of the fragile security situation.
On Sunday in an audio recording posted on the internet, a man’s voice, believed to be that of the Jordanian militant, said candidates and voters would be targeted.
”Candidates in elections are seeking to become demi-gods while those who vote for them are infidels,” the recording said. ”And with God as my witness, I have informed them [of our intentions].”
His group, now known as the al-Qeida Organisation in Iraq, has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings as well as the kidnap and murder of many Iraqis and foreigners, including the British engineer Ken Bigley.
On Sunday, a video posted on the internet showed an Egyptian hostage being shot dead by Zarqawi militants on a street corner during the day. The man identified himself as Ibrahim Mohammed Ismail (39) a truck driver, and warned foreign drivers not to work in Iraq. He was shown blindfolded, with his hands tied behind his back.
A masked gunman shot him with three rounds in the back as traffic passed by.
There was no way to verify the authenticity of the video, the second in a week showing outdoor killings.
On Sunday, Ayad Allawi, the Iraqi prime minister, said the security measures would protect against what he called evil forces determined to hurt Iraq.
”We are determined to do our best to put an end to the escalation of violence,” he told the BBC.
John Negroponte, the United States ambassador to Baghdad, admitted there was no ”absolute guarantee” that all Iraqis would be able to vote on the day.
”But what I can tell you is that there are elaborate plans, security measures are being taken. I think in the preponderance of the country, it will be safe for people to go and vote,” he told Fox News, in one of a round of interviews on US morning television shows.
Despite this optimism, few in the Sunni Muslim community are expected to vote, in part because insurgent violence is strongest in their areas but also because many are against the idea of elections while the US military still occupies Iraq.
The Shia and Kurdish communities, on the other hand, are expected to vote in strength, and as a result will dominate the new government, the first elected administration since the US-British invasion in March 2003.
But there are few indications that elections will bring a quick end to Iraq’s guerrilla insurgency.
Another militant group released a video on the internet on Sunday showing gunmen shooting dead an Iraqi national guardsman who had been kidnapped in the northern city of Mosul.
Insurgents blew up a building on Sunday in the southern city of Hilla that was to be used as a polling centre, and another group of militants seized a police station in the violent western city of Ramadi.
A senior US officer, General Gary Luck, sent to Iraq to review operations, has proposed that training of Iraqi forces should be speeded up and thousands of US military advisers be sent out to help, the New York Times said on Sunday.
Up to 10 000 trainers would be needed under his plan, triple the number currently working on the ground. The approach mirrors use of military ”advisers” in Vietnam.
In a further sign that the US is seeking new ways to tackle the insurgents, it was reported on Sunday that the army is preparing to send 18 remote-controlled robotic warriors to the country. Made by a Massachusetts company, the special weapons observation reconnaissance detection systems will be the first armed robotic vehicles to see combat, Associated Press reported.
Among the diverse elements in the insurgency, much of the US’s attention has focused on Zarqawi, who carries a $25-million price on his head. In his recording on Sunday he spoke of his aims to provoke a sectarian conflict and accused Iraq’s Shia Muslims of collaborating with the US. – Guardian Unlimited Â