FALLUJA, Jan 11: The 13-strong team organizing elections in Iraq's restive Anbar province said on Tuesday it had quit after receiving death threats from guerillas bent on undermining the polls.

"We submitted our resignation to the governor yesterday. We have been receiving threats by letters and phone," said Abdel Aziz al-Rawi, who headed the team in the western region where violence is expected to keep many people away from the poll.

Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission has played down reports of mass resignations by electoral officials in predominantly Sunni provinces to the north and west, where guerillas have been attackingd polling centres.

Top electoral officials told reporters on Tuesday that there had been individual resignations, but all those who had stepped down had been replaced. The Anbar team had been replaced by officials from Baghdad, they said.

But electoral officials in many parts of the country receive menacing calls and even emails from guerillas fighting to expel US troops from Iraq and undermine its American-backed government, warning them to stop work or risk death.

Seven electoral officers have been killed so far, at least four of them were dragged out of their car on a Baghdad street last month and shot in broad daylight. Iraq's Electoral Commission, set up to organize the country's first election after US-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003, employs 1,000 core electoral officials and a further 6,000 provincial officials.

USE OF RELIGION: Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Accord party cried foul on Tuesday over the alleged use of religion by Shia politicians in their election campaign.