22 die in Iraq as insurgents step up attacks before polls

Insurgents bent on sabotaging Iraq’s January 30 elections unleashed mortars and bombs and opened fire in several cities on Monday, killing at least 22 policemen and soldiers and targeting polling stations.

Witnesses said burnt bodies were scattered in a police compound in Baiji after a car bomb killed at least 10 people in the oil refining town, north of Baghdad. At least 20 people were wounded, most of them policemen. Near Baquba, another guerrilla stronghold north-east of the capital, gunmen opened fire at a checkpoint and killed eight soldiers, a National Guard officer said.

Polling stations came under fire in two other cities. A security guard was killed and guerrillas also engaged US troops protecting a school designated for voting.

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A statement from followers of al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, said they had carried out an attack in Baquba and issued a new warning to Iraqi security forces, who are struggling to protect themselves.

A survey in the independent al-Mada newspaper, which found two-thirds of registered voters in Baghdad intending to cast their ballots, may raise hopes for a US-backed interim government.