UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ruled out yesterday holding elections in Iraq before US forces hand over power in June after two suicide bombs at a Polish military base killed at least seven Iraqis and wounded dozens of others.
"There seems to be general acceptance of the fact that it is not going to be possible to arrange an election between now and the end of June," Annan said in an interview with yesterday's Mainichi Yomiuri Shimbun.
Elections had to be properly organized and the conditions had to be right with security, and the political and legal instruments ready for the elections, the UN chief told Japan's biggest-selling daily at UN headquarters in New York.
"So I think the conclusion then will have to be that elections before the end of June may not be possible, but there will have to be better organized elections later on," Annan said.
The US plans to hand over the reins of power in Baghdad to an unelected Iraqi government on June 30 but has been fighting off demands led by top Shiite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for direct elections before the handover.
Annan, whose stance will reassure Washington, said the UN would help with economic and political reconstruction in Iraq, but he argued the security situation must be improved before the world body could step in.
"Once the interim or caretaker government has been established, we will work with them ... But a secure environment has to be created for us to be carry on with that," he said.
The lack of security was once more underscored when two suicide bombers struck at a Polish military base in central Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least seven Iraqis and wounding dozens, including at least 58 coalition troops.
Two explosives-packed trucks speeding toward the Polish logistics base outside the city of Hilla were met with a hail of automatic weapons fire from Mongolian soldiers.
The first truck exploded 200m from the cement barriers shielding the base known as Camp Charlie, officials said. The second driver bolted from his vehicle and was shot dead as his truck blew up.
The blast flattened 11 homes and sent glass and shrapnel flying.
The dead Iraqis included a 12-year-old girl, said Mohammed al-Tai, director of Hilla's Al-Talimi hospital. He said 28 civilians were wounded,
A coalition military spokeswoman in Baghdad said 58 soldiers were wounded in the attack, but that only six remained in the hospital.
Poland has 2,400 troops in Iraq and commands 9,000 troops, including 300 Hungarians, mostly logistics experts, as part of the US-led coalition occupying the country.
Insurgents carried out three deadly attacks last week that claimed the lives of more than 100 Iraqis, including back-to-back bombings at a police station south of the capital and at a Baghdad recruiting center for the New Iraqi Army.
In a possible breakthrough, US troops captured seven people with suspected links to al-Qaeda along with 15 others in a dawn raid on Wednesday in Baquba, 60km northeast of Baghdad, a military spokesman said.
"The intended targets were suspected members of anti-coalition operatives and may have links to al-Qaeda," the spokesman said.
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