Six Iraqis killed in pre-election violence

Six Iraqis have been killed in pre-election violence today as insurgents exploded roadside bombs, clashed with US troops and blew up a school that was to serve as a polling centre.

One US soldier was wounded in a convoy ambush, a day after the deadliest day for US troops since the war began.

Australian officials announced that one of two car bombing on Baghdad’s dangerous airport road Wednesday had injured eight Australian soldiers riding in a convoy escorting Australian government officials.

Two of the injured Australian soldiers were expected to be airlifted to Germany today for surgery to remove shrapnel and repair broken bones, said the head of Australian troops in the Middle East, Air Commodore Greg Evans.

Meanwhile, a Muslim youth group in Brazil issued an appeal for the kidnappers of a Brazilian hostage to release him. The appeal by the Alliance of Muslim Youth, broadcast on Al-Jazeera, noted that many Brazilians had opposed the Iraq war.

“We are issuing this urgent call to release (the hostage) as soon as possible, asking God to remove the occupation from Iraq and liberate the country,” the group said.

In a continuation of the pre-election violence plaguing the country, three Iraqis were killed and seven injured when a roadside bomb missed a US convoy in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad this morning.

Near Tikrit, a roadside bomb killed one Iraqi bystander and narrowly missed another passing US military convoy, police said. The attack happened on a road near former dictator Saddam Hussein’s hometown, about 80 miles north of Baghdad.

In Samarra in the same region, armed men blew up a local school administration building today after first ordering the staff to leave. The destroyed building had been scheduled to be a voting centre in Sunday’s elections.

Sporadic clashes also erupted in Samarra between US troops and armed men, killing one Iraqi civilian and injuring another, Mohammed said.

US forces exchanged fire with insurgents in Ramadi, capital of the insurgent-plagued province of Anbar.

In Baqouba, the body of a colonel in the former Iraqi intelligence during Saddam Hussein’s era, Talib Minshid, was found in the city, according to a Baqouba hospital official, Mohammed Ali. Minshid had been abducted by armed men two days ago.

The US soldier was injured when his convoy was attacked early today near Kirkuk by small arms fire and a roadside bomb. Five people were arrested.