A self-confessed devil worshipper has been locked up indefinitely for stabbing his 18-year-old cousin to death.

INSURGENTS bombed a polling station and lobbed grenades at voters yesterday, killing 36 people in attacks aimed at intimidating those taking part in an election that will determine whether the country can overcome the sectarian divisions that have plagued it since the 2003 US-led invasion.

Early-morning bombings - including a blast that killed six when it struck a minivan of workers in southern Baghdad - continued today as US and Iraqi officials promised a crackdown on violence and sectarian attacks.

BOMBING and shooting attacks west of Baghdad killed six US troops and a suicide car bomber slammed into a truck carrying Iraqi policemen near the airport yesterday, killing at least eight and wounding 25 - the latest wave of violence aimed at derailing Iraq’s advancing political process.