IRAQ: Insurgents struck Baghdad with a series of car-bomb attacks yesterday, killing 28 in one of the bloodiest days yet ahead of the January 30th elections.
The Australian embassy and Iraqi security personnel were the target of four separate suicide car-bombings, the US military said.
The bombings may herald the start of an all-out attempt by Sunni insurgents to disrupt the elections. US and Iraqi officials warn that polling day is likely to see a dramatic increase in attacks.
The hotel compound housing the Australian embassy took the full force of one explosion. Its windows were shattered and doors were torn off their hinges.
Outside the compound was a scene of destruction all too familiar to residents of Baghdad - the twisted wreckage of a truck bomb and two dead bodies by the side of the road. Two Australian soldiers were injured in the attack.
The deadliest blast took place at a police headquarters and hospital in eastern Baghdad. The US military said the bomb killed 18 people, including five policemen Other car-bombs targeted a checkpoint outside Baghdad's international airport, a joint US-Iraqi military base on the city's outskirts, and a bank where police officers were queuing to be paid.
The al-Qaeda-linked insurgent group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said on a website that it carried out the attacks.
In recent weeks, insurgents have conducted a ferocious campaign of intimidation and assassinations aimed at security officials and those taking part in the poll.
Iraq's US-backed interim government has responded with tough security measures in an attempt to curb violence on polling day, including barring vehicles from getting close to polling stations.
However, the measures have done little to assure Iraqis attacks will stop before the elections, especially in Sunni tribal heartlands where the insurgency is at its most intense.
According to a recent opinion poll conducted in Iraq, 85 per cent of the country wants to vote - but many people may be too scared. People clearing away the debris from the Australian embassy attack, which killed a homeless man and a 16-year-old road cleaner, said they would be staying at home on January 30th.
"We cannot live in this country, let alone vote," said Mohammed Khalid, a shopkeeper.
The threat of violence is one reason why Sunni Arab political parties have withdrawn from the elections, meaning the vote is likely to be dominated by Shia political parties who insist the election must go ahead.
Iraq's Shia community, which makes up 60 per cent of the country, was brutally repressed by Saddam Hussein's predominantly Sunni regime.
The division of the country along ethnic lines has led some to believe Iraq may be sliding into civil war.
A British security company operating in Iraq was investigating reports that two of its employees were killed in an insurgent attack. The Janusian Security Risk Management workers were in a convoy south of the city of Beiji, central Iraq, when they were ambushed.