Insurgents killed 17 people and wounded dozens in Iraq on Saturday on the eve of elections. A rocket attack on the US embassy compound in Baghdad’s Green Zone killed two Americans and wounded four, a US embassy spokesman said on Saturday.President Ghazi al-Yawar predicted that up to two-thirds of Iraq’s 14.2 million eligible voters would cast ballots. He issued a statement clarifying what he meant after earlier remarks suggested he thought most Iraqis would not vote.Even as US-trained security forces barricaded streets, sealed land borders and closed Baghdad airport, more than a dozen polling stations were attacked.A suicide bomber struck a US-Iraqi security centre in Khanaqin, killing three Iraqi soldiers and five civilians. Al Qaeda’s network in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility and threatened mayhem when voters go to the polls from 7 am on Sunday. ‘‘For the last time, we warn tomorrow will be bloody for the Christians and Jews and their mercenaries and whoever takes part in the (election) game of America and Allawi,’’ it said in a statement posted on an Islamist website.Most attacks were concentrated in the Sunni heartlands of central Iraq. Three civilians died in a roadside bombing in Samarra, while three soldiers died in a rocket attack on an Iraqi Army base in Duluiya. Three Iraqi contractors abducted a week ago were found shot dead in Balad. Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at Baghdad Hotel, but there was no word of casualties. Fighting between US troops and insurgents raged around Ramadi and witnesses said US troops killed two Iraqis in a car near the city.Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush said the US mission must keep going to help the new government get its footing. ‘‘As democracy takes hold in Iraq, America’s mission there will continue,’’ Bush said on Saturday in his weekly radio address. ‘‘Our military forces, diplomats and civilian personnel will help the newly-elected government of Iraq establish security and train Iraqi military police and other forces.’’ ‘‘Terrorist violence will not end with the election,” Bush said. —Reuters
