IRAQ ON A KNIFE EDGE Gulf Daily News Sunday 30 January 2005 http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=103167&Sn=WORL&IssueID=27316
--- photo: A boy looks at the bloodied ground following an explosion at a polling station in Shorgat, north of Baghdad http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/source/xxvii/316/images/01boy.jpg --- BAGHDAD: Insurgents vowing total war on Iraq's landmark polls killed 17 people on the eve of the vote yesterday and threatened a bloodbath on election day. Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi urged the country's fractious religious and ethnic groups to defy "enemies trying to break us and to break our world" and to vote in Iraq's first multi-party elections in half a century. Even as US-trained security forces barricaded streets, sealed Iraq's borders and closed Baghdad airport, more than a dozen polling stations were attacked and bloodshed continued to overshadow the final electoral countdown. With just a day to go before the polls, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a US-Iraqi security centre in the town of Khanaqin, northeast of Baghdad near the border with Iran. The US military said three Iraqi soldiers and five civilians were killed. Al Qaeda's ally in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, claimed responsibility and threatened mayhem when voters go to the polls from 7am (0300 GMT) today. "For the last time, we warn that tomorrow will be bloody for the Christians and Jews and their mercenaries and whoever takes part in the (election) game of America and Allawi," it said in a statement posted on an Islamist website. Most other attacks were concentrated in the Sunni heartland north of Baghdad where the insurgency has been fiercest and where many once-privileged Sunnis plan to boycott the election. The election is the cornerstone of the Bush administration's plan to transform Iraq from dictatorship to democracy after the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003. But it risks fuelling the insurgency and fomenting sectarian strife. The US military said insurgent attacks had more than tripled to 98 on Thursday from 29 last Saturday. Zarqawi has been behind most of the deadliest attacks in Iraq and has a $25 million US bounty on his head. http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=103167&Sn=WORL&IssueID=27316 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - What will yours do? http://my.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Would you Help a Child in need? It¿s easier than you think. Click Here to meet a Child you can help. http://us.click.yahoo.com/kx_54C/I_qJAA/i1hLAA/TXWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamcity/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
