IRAQ: Insurgents struck Iraq's two holiest Shia cities yesterday, with twin car bombs killing at least 62 people and wounding nearly 130.
The bombings came just over an hour apart, the first suicide blast targeting the main bus station in the city of Kerbala, the second a crowded square in Najaf.
The co-ordinated attacks could signal the start of a concerted campaign by Sunni insurgents to disrupt next month's elections, and seem designed to inflame sectarian violence ahead of the poll.
In Baghdad, insurgents also gunned down three officials working for Iraq's election commission.
US and Iraqi officials warn that violence is likely to escalate in the run-up to the poll.
In the Najaf attack, in which 48 died, the car bomb detonated opposite the Imam Ali shrine where a large crowd had gathered for the funeral of a local tribal leader.
Witnesses described a scene of carnage. A 15-year-old boy had his leg ripped off.
"I was working in the café when I heard a big explosion," said Khalid Jabar. "I felt that I was hit by an electric shock. Then I saw a leg on the ground."
Police officials believe the town's governor, who was at the funeral, may have been the target of the attack.
In Kerbala witnesses said the suicide bomber tried to enter a police recruitment centre, but on finding the street blocked off, drove into the bus terminal, killing 14. The bombings were the deadliest on the religious community since last March when multiple attacks in Kerbala and Baghdad killed more than 170.
In Baghdad, the three election workers were killed on Haifa Street, an insurgent bastion and scene of regular ambushes.
Reports say the gunmen fired on a car and then dragged out and shot the passengers, whom witnesses said were wearing civilian clothes.
Yesterday electoral commission spokesman Mr Farid Ayar said his staff were undeterred by the attacks. "It's not by killing employees that the elections are going to be hindered, but the terrorists have their own strategy."
The commission has employed a staff of 6,000 to organise the vote, although many have yet to take up position across the country.
They must register more than 18 million voters using the old oil-for-food ration card system.
Meanwhile, insurgents released video footage of 10 handcuffed and blindfold Iraqis they said were employees of a US security company. An accompanying statement threatened to kill the captives unless their employer halted its Iraq operations but gave no deadline, said the Arabic-language channel Al-Jazeera.
War crimes trials against Saddam Hussein and his closest lieutenants moved forward on Saturday when his cousin, known as "Chemical Ali", was the first to face a formal interview with the chief investigating magistrate.
Iraq's US-backed government had promised trials would begin before next month's election, the first free vote since Saddam rose to power three decades ago. But the judge stressed his meetings with Ali Hassan al-Majid and the former defence minister, Sultan Hashem, were just the start of a long process.
Meanwhile, Saddam urged his compatriots yesterday to remain united against the US occupation, and warned of the potential dangers of the upcoming elections, his lawyers said.
"The president warned the people of Iraq and the Arabs to beware of the American scheme aimed at splitting Iraq into sectarian and religious divisions and weakening the (Arab) nation," said Bushra Khalil, a Lebanese member of the defence team.