A NUMBER of Iraqi boxers and rowers will prepare for the Beijing Olympics in Ireland to escape fatal attacks on athletes in their war-torn country.

Iraqis voted in an historic parliamentary election today, with strong turnout reported in Sunni Arab areas that had shunned balloting last January, bolstering US hopes of calming the insurgency enough to begin withdrawing its troops.

A family of six, who had just returned to the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah, were killed today when rockets fired from US jets levelled their house.

Members of the Iraqi Olympic soccer team branded US President George Bush a “criminal” and called for American troops to pull out of the war-torn country.