Iraq’s interim president said that tens of thousands of people may have been unable to vote in the country’s historic weekend election because some polling places – including those in Sunni Arab areas – ran out of ballots.

IRAQI militants are claiming to hold a US soldier hostage and have threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the US releases Iraqi prisoners.

It would be “complete nonsense” to ask US and other foreign troops to leave Iraq now but some of the 170,000 soldiers could be leaving by the end of the year, the nation’s interim president said today.

Iraq’s president said today that many Iraqis would stay away from the polls in his country’s historic election because of security fears and warned the vote will fail if Sunnis don’t participate.

A SUICIDE car bomber linked to al-Qaida killed 13 people in Baghdad yesterday as seven US Marines were also killed on the first anniversary of the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

President George Bush, on a day of new violence in the Middle East, expressed determination to see Iraq hold elections on January 30 and said they would show that terrorists cannot stop the march of democracy.

Gunmen stormed the compound of a Saudi company in a fashionable Baghdad neighbourhood, seizing an American, a Nepalese and four Iraqis after a gun battle in which a guard and one of the attackers were killed.

The deadly showdown between US troops and Iraqi militants in Najaf dominated Iraq’s national conference, with tribal and religious leaders deciding to send 60 delegates to the holy city to persuade a radical Shiite cleric to call off his fighters.

US secretary of state Colin Powell said the United States would speed delivery to Iraq of billions of dollars in reconstruction aid, as Nato countries agreed to send a 40-member team as soon as possible to begin training Iraqi security forces.

Fierce fighting between US marines, backed by fighter aircraft, and insurgents using small arms and mortars in the volatile city of Fallujah killed 13 Iraqis and wounded 14 others, hospital officials said today.

The Philippine government was waiting for information today after making a direct appeal to the insurgents holding a Filipino hostage to spare his life.

The Philippine government made a direct appeal early today to insurgents holding a Filipino hostage, pleading with them to show mercy for the man they pledged to kill if the country did not agree to pull its troops from Iraq early.

Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawer threatened today to use a “very sharp sword” to fight insurgents and anyone else threatening the security of the country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s new government is considering offering an amnesty to Iraqi rebels who fought the U.S.-led occupation, perhaps even pardoning those who killed Americans.

The US and Saudi-educated head of Iraq’s Governing Council was named as president of the interim government today, after the Americans’ preferred candidate turned down the post.

Iraqi Governing Council President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer was named Iraq’s new president today – but only after former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi turned down the job.

President George Bush’s idea of demolishing the notorious Abu Ghraib prison would be a waste of resources, the head of Iraq’s Governing Council said today.

IRAQIS reacted with scepticism to promises from US President George W Bush of an independent future, saying an offer of sovereignty did not go far enough to restore their freedom.

The Anglo-American blueprint for a post-occupation Iraq falls short of expectations, the president of the Iraqi Governing Council said today.

THE head of the Iraqi Governing Council was assassinated in a suicide car bombing near a checkpoint outside the coalition headquarters in central Baghdad yesterday.