BAGHDAD, Jan 26: Thirty-one US troops were reported killed in a helicopter crash and five more died in insurgent attacks on Wednesday in the deadliest day for American forces since they invaded Iraq 22 months ago.
Guerillas also killed 25 Iraqis in a string of bombings and raids on Wednesday. US President George W. Bush urged Iraqis to defy the insurgents, who are waging a bloody campaign to disrupt Sunday's landmark election, a cornerstone of US plans.
At least 15 people were killed and 30 wounded in a truck bomb on Wednesday outside the headquarters of a major Kurdish political party in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, the local council chief said.
"The truck, packed with one tonne of TNT, exploded outside the local offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party at 2:30 pm (1130 GMT), killing 15 people and wounding 30," Dekhil Qassem Hassoun told AFP.
CNN, quoting the US military, reported that 31 Marines died when their transport helicopter went down in the deserts of the restive Anbar province of western Iraq. The military confirmed casualties to reporters but gave no figures, as search and rescue teams scoured the area. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
"Obviously, anytime you lose life it is a sad moment," Bush told a White House news conference. Mounting US deaths have increased public pressure for a clearer exit strategy from Iraq.
Four US Marines were killed in action in Anbar province, and an American soldier died in a rocket-propelled grenade attack north of Baghdad, US officials said. The latest surge of insurgent attacks appeared aimed at sowing panic even as the US-backed interim government vowed stringent measures to safeguard the election, Iraq's first since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein in April 2003.
"I urge all people to vote. I urge people to defy these terrorists," Bush said, calling the election a "grand moment in Iraqi history". "They (the terrorists) have no clear view of a better future. They're afraid of a free society," he added.
In a closely coordinated attack, three suicide car bombers hit the town of Riyadh, a Sunni Arab area south west of the northern city of Kirkuk. Two explosives-laden cars blew up simultaneously close to an Iraqi army post and police station and a third vehicle detonated minutes later on a nearby highway, a local police chief said.
Four Iraqi policemen, two Iraqi soldiers and three civilians were killed, and at least 12 people were wounded, police said. Shortly after the blasts, a US combat patrol heading to the scene came under small arms fire and two US soldiers were lightly wounded, the military said.
WARNING: The group of Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, threatened Americans and Iraqi forces, and warned Iraqis not to go near polling stations, according to an Internet statement posted on Wednesday.
"Beware, beware, Iraqis, don't approach the (polling) centres of infidelity and vice. You are warned," said the statement from the Al-Qaeda Group in the Land of Two Rivers which was posted on an Islamist website.
"Enemies of Allah, prepare yourselves. Barricade yourselves as you want. We have men who love to kill as much as you love life," it added. "Death will be the fate of the enemies of Islam... the Americans, who call for false elections and the soldiers of (Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad) Allawi."
On Monday, Zarqawi's fighters said snipers would take out any Iraqis who try to vote in Sunday's landmark elections. "Trained snipers will be ready to kill the apostates who go to the electoral lairs," said a statement signed by Zarqawi's group and handed out in the Iraqi town of Al-Dur.
STRING OF ATTACKS: Police in Baquba, a mixed Shia and Sunni town 65 km north of Baghdad, said one Iraqi policeman was killed and at least eight people were wounded when gunmen fired on the local offices of three parties contesting the polls.
Sunni insurgents have repeatedly targeted the country's fledgling security forces and Shias, who form 60 per cent of the population, in the countdown to the election, accusing them of collaborating with U.S.-led occupiers.
The Shias are expected to dominate the new government after decades of rule by Saddam's Sunni minority. Several guerilla groups in Iraq - including militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda's leader in the country - have declared war on Sunday's elections, terming those taking part in the polls infidels and vowing to attack polling stations.
The government plans extraordinary security measures, including closing Baghdad airport and land borders over the election period, extending night curfews in cities and banning cars from roads on election day.
Zarqawi, a Jordanian with a $25 million bounty on his head, says the election is a plot by Washington and Iraqi Shias against Sunni Arabs, who now fear being marginalised.
Iraq's Shias, oppressed under Saddam, strongly support the elections. A list of candidates dominated by Shia Islamists and drawn up with the guidance of revered scholar Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani is expected to win the most votes, cementing the new found political power of Shias.
But many Sunni Arab parties will boycott the polls, saying the insurgency raging in Iraq's Sunni heart lands will prevent their supporters from voting and skew the results.
Tension between Shias and Sunni Arabs has been stoked by a series of bomb attacks on Shia targets, raising fears of sectarian conflict. Insurgents have also assassinated several leading Shia leaders and officials. On Tuesday a top Baghdad judge was killed along with his son in an ambush as they left home during morning rush hour. -Reuters/AFP
