04 November 2004	Thursday	20 Ramazan 1425

BAGHDAD, Nov 3: Six more foreigners were kidnapped and a US soldier died in a roadside bomb in another day of mayhem on Wednesday, as Iraqis tracked the news that George W. Bush has won another term as US president.

The life of an Irish-born woman aid worker hung in the balance after her kidnappers threatened to hand her to a group led by Iraq's most wanted man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and a senior oil ministry official was shot dead.

The violence came as news broke that Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry conceded the cliff-hanger US presidential election, which has closely focused on Washington's decision to invade Iraq and the chaos that ensued.

Some Iraqi officials, however, welcomed the Bush victory, while Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said he would have happily worked with either candidate.

"We know that Bush has an overall vision for Iraq, he overthrew Saddam Hussein and liberated the country and Ithink he wants to see the job done," said Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, a special adviser to the interim government.

Opinion was more divided on the streets of Baghdad, with Iraq's Shia majority, who suffered the most under Saddam, cheering the outcome, while many Sunni Muslims groaned in dismay. A wave of violence that followed last year's US-led invasion claimed more victims on Wednesday.

Five Jordanians, most of them truck drivers, were reported kidnapped, while a US-Lebanese contractor was captured at gunpoint from an upmarket district in Baghdad and Al-Qaeda-linked militants posted a website video showing the beheading of a man they said was a senior Iraqi army officer.

One US soldier was killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb hit an army patrol southeast of the capital, bringing to 1,117 the number of US military personnel killed in Iraq since the war, according to a Pentagon tally.

At least nine people were also injured in another car bombing on the main road to Baghdad airport.-AFP