Zarqawi group kills Allawi’s secretary

‘‘I advise all Iraqis, especially young people, not to back or cooperate with the occupying enemy,’’ Kanani says before he is shot, adding that he had worked as an election organiser in Allawi’s Iraqi National Accord party.

With Iraq’s election only three days away, insurgents also 19 Iraqis and a US Marine on Thursday and bombed polling stations in the country’s Sunni heartland.

The flurry of attacks, including the execution of four Iraqi National Guards, came as US investigators probed a helicopter crash that killed 31 US troops on Wednesday, the deadliest day for American forces since the war began.

The Army of Ansar al-Sunna issued a ‘‘final warning’’ to stay away from the polls, saying anyone who voted would be marked for death, either during or after the election.

‘‘Those who don’t pay heed will have only themselves to blame,’’ the group said in a statement on an Islamist website. Gunmen abducted and executed four National Guards in thewestern city of Ramadi, an officer in the US-trained force said.

Notes were found pinned on the four bodies warning against collaboration with American troops.