Four US soldiers and election candidate killed in Iraq

FOUR US Army soldiers died in a roadside bombing, gunmen killed a Sunni Arab candidate for parliament, and militants tried to blow up a leading Shi’ite politician in separate attacks yesterday.

It was the last day of campaigning for Iraq’s election.

More than 1,000 Sunni clerics, meanwhile, issued a religious edict, or a fatwa, urging Sunni Arabs to vote in tomorrow’s balloting - offering a seal of approval as members of the disaffected minority are expected to turn out in large numbers after mostly boycotting the landmark January 30 polls.