Gunmen kill leading member of election boycott group

GUNMEN yesterday assassinated a member of an influential Sunni clerics’ group that has called for a boycott of national elections.

This comes just a day after Iraqi officials announced the balloting would be held on January 30 in spite of rising violence in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces recovered 12 bodies, including five decapitated ones, from an area south of Baghdad. One was identified as a member of the Iraqi National Guard. The bodies were found during a raid on Sunday in Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.

Sheik Faidh Mohamed Amin al-Faidhi, a member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, was shot by gunmen at his home in northern Mosul.

The slaying could further alienate Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority ahead of the election. The association is already calling for a boycott of the vote.

If many Sunni heed its call, the legitimacy of the election could be deeply undermined.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said his government was determined to hold the election. He described those calling for a boycott as “the eventual losers” and “a small minority”.

The vote for the 275-member national assembly will be Iraq’s first election since Saddam Hussein’s fall. But the ongoing violence, which escalated this month with the US-led offensive against Fallujah, has also raised concerns that balloting could be nearly a practical impossibility in insurgency-torn regions. Iraqi authorities insist ballots will be cast even in volatile areas - including Fallujah, Mosul and other parts of the Sunni Triangle.

Meanwhile, 20 nations, including Iraq’s neighbours and western and Arab countries, gathered in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheik for a conference aimed at showing support for Iraq. The delegates intended to call on Mr Allawi’s government to reach out to its opponents to encourage broad participation in the election.