Iraq declares emergency

Allawi was doing all he could to find a peaceful solution, his spokesman Thair Al-Naqib said. 8216;8216;He still hopes that it may be possible to avoid a major military confrontation in Falluja8230;He is, however, not optimistic,8217;8217; Al-Naqib said.

The interim PM is dispatching envoys to neighbouring Arab states to win support for his handling of the situation in his homeland. In a statement, Al-Naqib, said the envoys would appeal to Iraq8217;s neighbours and explain the reasons behind the government8217;s decision today to declare a 60-day state of emergency.

Moments after the announcement, a car bomb exploded near the house of Iraqi Finance Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi in central Baghdad8217;s Karrada district, killing two people. 8216;8216;I am fine. I was far away from the place where this explosion happened,8217;8217; Abdul Mahdi said on telephone.

The bloodiest attack on police was in Haditha near Baghdad, where rebels stormed a police station at dawn, wounding six policemen. Assailants took 21 captured policemen to an oil pumping station area and shot them execution-style. Brigadier Shaher Al-Jughaifi, security chief in western Iraq, died in an attack on a police post in nearby Haqlaniya.

Insurgents also kept up a wave of attacks on US-led forces and Iraqis working for them. An American soldier was killed and another wounded when their convoy was attacked West of Baghdad, the military said. It said a separate car bomb attack killed one US soldier and wounded four in western Baghdad.

A suicide bomber drove into a US convoy in Baghdad in an attack for which a militant group led by Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility. Bodies of three Iraqi translators for US forces were found in Tikrit. In Falluja, residents said fighting erupted on the eastern edge of the city after intense overnight air strikes and artillery shelling.