BAGHDAD, Nov 24: The occupation forces swept hotspots in a "triangle of death" in Iraq on Wednesday in a push to reclaim guerrilla enclaves before January polls, as more than 200 political groups threw their hat in the electoral ring.

Amid fears that guerillas would step up their attacks to sabotage the elections, violence gripped the country, with two assassination bids in Mosul, a suicide car bomb in Baghdad and a string of other incidents.

The launch of the huge operation in the area south of Baghdad on Tuesday came as the international community voiced its support of the tight timetable for Iraq's first post-Saddam Hussein elections.

In Washington, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States would add an unspecified number of troops to its forces in Iraq and beef up Iraqi forces before the Jan 30 vote.

Some 5,000 American, British and Iraqi forces took part in Operation Plymouth Rock that began with raids on villages north of the city of Hilla, the capital of Babylon province, the US military said.

The force looked set to make its way northwards to the areas blocking access to the capital. The towns of Latifiyah, Yusufiyah, Mahmudiyah and Iskandariyah lie inside the "triangle of death", an area where guerrillas have carried out strings of deadly attacks in recent months.

MOSUL: Militants remained active in the northern city of Mosul. The leader of a special Iraqi commando force sent from Baghdad to back US-led efforts to restore in the country's third-largest city escaped an assassination attempt. US forces returned fire and killed the four attackers.