UN official insists Iraqi elections credible

A UNITED NATIONS official said yesterday that Iraq’s recent parliamentary elections, which have given a strong lead to the Shi’ite religious bloc dominating the current government, were credible and that there was there was no justification in calls for a rerun.

In violence yesterday, an inmate in a Baghdad prison grabbed an assault rifle from a guard and opened fire, killing eight people, police said. One American soldier was injured in the attempted prison break.

The Shi’ite bloc held talks with Kurdish leaders about who should get the top 12 government jobs, as thousands of Sunni Arabs and secular Shi’ites protested what they say was a tainted vote. Two Sunni Arab groups and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s Iraqi National List have threatened a wave of protests and civil disobedience, if fraud charges are not properly investigated.