Suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala yesterday, killing at least 62 people and wounding 129. The attacks are likely to increase hostility between the Shia and Sunni communities with exactly six weeks to go until the country is due to go to the polls.

A gunman, center left, shoots and kills a man lying in Baghdad's Haifa Street after being pulled from a car Sunday, Dec. 19, 2004. The man at right on his knees was executed moments later, along with another man not shown in picture. About 30 gunmen ambushed a car Sunday in central Baghdad carrying employees of the Iraqi organization running next month's elections, killing three of the workers while two escaped unhurt, an official from the election body said. (AP Photo/Str)

The first bomb exploded in Karbala, in an open-air bus station which is always crowded with pilgrims on their way to the golden-domed Imam Hussein shrine. The blast left the ground littered with the bodies of at least 14 dead and 39 wounded.

The second and even more deadly blast came an hour later in the nearby city of Najaf, where a large crowd had gathered to attend the funeral of a tribal sheikh.

The ease with which resistance fighters can move in hardcore Sunni resistance strongholds was underlined yesterday when three Iraqi election officials were accosted by 30 armed men in central Baghdad in broad daylight and shot dead. The attack happened in Haifa Street, a notorious resistance stronghold close to the Green Zone, where the interim Iraqi government and its American allies have their headquarters.

Shia leaders accused Sunni Muslim fundamentalists known as Salafi or Wahabi, along with former members of the Baath party, of being behind the attacks, but they appealed to their community to desist from revenge attacks.Shia leaders are committed to taking part in the election on 30 January where they hope their community, 60 per cent of the Iraqi population, will win a majority in the National Assembly.

Mohammed Bahr al-Ulum, a respected Shia cleric, said: "They are trying to ignite a sectarian civil war and prevent elections from going ahead on time. They have failed before and they will fail again."

Meanwhile Saddam Hussein, who is in US custody awaiting trial on war crimes charges, has reportedly called on Iraqis to unite against what he called US efforts to sow sectarian divisions, according to his defence team which issued a statement after meeting the former Iraqi president last Thursday. "President Saddam Hussein urged the unity of his Iraqi people, regardless of their religious and ethnic creed, to confront US plans to divide their country on sectarian grounds," Ziad Khasawneh, a spokesman for the defence team, told reporters, adding that Saddam told him: "If my commitment to my principles was 90 per cent before the US invasion then after what happened to me it's 100 per cent firm."

Divisions between Sunni and Shia in Iraq have deepened since Saddam's overthrow. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, leader of Iraq's Shia community, has argued that the 15-16 million Shia, while opposed to the US occupation, should not take part in armed resistance but assert their strength at the ballot box.

The 4 to 5 million Sunni, the backbone of Saddam Hussein's regime and previous Iraqi governments, have generally backed the resistance. It is thought likely that most will abstain from voting and will therefore be under-represented in the new National Assembly.

The Shia have come under repeated attacks from bombers. In March, explosions killed 170 people in Baghdad and Karbala during annual Shia mourning ceremonies.

If the Shia vote on 30 January and the Sunni do not, then community divisions can only increase. But yesterday even the militant movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr saw revenge as a trap. "A civil war will be hell," said a political liaison officer from Mr Sadr's movement yesterday. "The consensus is against revenge."

Iyad Allawi, the interim Iraqi Prime Minister, said an increase in attacks before the elections had been anticipated. "We expect strikes and we hope

the eyes of our people will be open to inform authorities and help them in doing their job," he told al-Iraqiya TV.

Three insurgent groups have abducted 10 Iraqis working for the Sandi Group, a US property developer and contractor, and said in a video that they will kill them unless the company withdraws from Iraq.

The militants said they represented the Mujahedin Army, the Black Banner Brigade and the Mutassim Bellah Brigade, all previously unknown groups. They released a videotape which showed nine blindfolded hostages lined up against a wall and a 10th lying on a bed, apparently wounded.

Meanwhile, gunmen killed three Patriotic Union of Kurdistan officials and one member of the powerful Kurdish party during attacks on their homes in the Arab-majority town of al-Hawija, 150 miles north of Baghdad, according to Major General Anwar Mohammed Amin of the Iraqi National Guard.

Security concerns, following fierce clashes a week ago in which seven US Marines were killed, have delayed plans to return civilians to Fallujah. The Americans now believe the devastated city will be reopened for some people to go home in between seven and 10 days.

Earlier Mr Allawi had said people would begin returning within two to three days, but the US officials who briefed reporters said they had not been told that.

They stressed, however, that the final decision belonged to the Iraqi government. The question of when to allow the city's 250,000 residents to return has been a high-priority issue since the US-led operation in November to rid Fallujah of insurgents. Thousands of people living in camps outside the city have been clamouring to go home, even though many of the buildings have been destroyed.

© Copyright 2004 lndependent/UK

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