Al-Qaeda threatens to kill Iraqis who vote

Al-Qaeda in Iraq on Friday threatened to kill people who vote in the war-torn nation's election and imposed a self-declared curfew during polling hours when millions are to cast ballots.

The Islamic state of Iraq (ISI), the Qaeda front in the country, in a statement two days ahead of Sunday's vote said anyone who defies the curfew would "expose himself to the anger of Allah and then to all kinds of weapons of the mujahedeen."

The group, which has previously threatened to sabotage the elections and claimed responsibility for attacks that have killed hundreds in Iraq, delivered its warning after a series of suicide bombings left dozens dead.

The ISI statement came as Iraq's religious leaders ordered citizens to vote and safeguard democracy in the second parliamentary election since the ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein in a US-led invasion in 2003.

"The Islamic state declares for the time a curfew on election day... from six in the morning until six pm, throughout Iraq and especially in Sunni areas," the SITE monitoring agency said in a statement on its website.

"For the safety of our people, any of those who learn of this, report it to those who do not know and supply yourself with needs for the curfew," it said in a translation of the message which was posted on jihadist websites.

ISI leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi last month threatened to disrupt Sunday's election by "military means."

The message came as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told an inquiry that going to war in Iraq was "the right decision" despite widespread protests.

Britain withdrew its forces from Iraq last year, and Sunday's poll comes less than six months before US combat troops quit the country.

An estimated 1.4 million of the nation's diaspora began to cast their votes Friday in 80 cities in 16 different countries, while Shiite and Sunni religious leaders used Friday prayers to tell their followers they must take part.

"You must go to the voting centres because it is your duty," said Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Jorani, Sunni imam of the Al-Hai mosque in the central city of Baquba, where 33 people were killed in three suicide attacks on Wednesday.

"Even if you don't want to vote, go to the voting centres to destroy your electoral papers so they cannot be forged by others fraudulently."

Sunnis are expected to cast ballots in large numbers, in stark contrast to their 2005 boycott of the poll.

Ahmed al-Safi, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, the country's top Shiite cleric, said the election was a "huge vital issue," essential to ensuring Iraqis can "draw their own future."

"Turning away from voting, or having small participation in the elections for any reason, will give others a chance to achieve their illegal goals," he said at prayers in the holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the Shiite head of the State of Law Alliance, said this week he was "certain" of victory.

But he faces stiff competition from Shiite former premier Iyad Allawi, who gained the vote of Ahmed Fuad, a 22-year-old student, at a polling station in Amman in neighbouring Jordan.

"I hope the situation will improve there (in Iraq) so we can go back to our country. We are fed up with homesickness," Fuad told AFP.

Allawi's secular Iraqiya list has strong support in Sunni areas.

Also competing for the top job are former deputy premier Ahmed Chalabi, who was once favoured but is now loathed by Washington, Shiite Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi and Finance Minister Baqer Jaber Solagh.

Iraq's fragmented political scene virtually ensures that no single party will emerge with the 163 seats needed to form a government on its own and the ensuing horse-trading to form a governing coalition is likely to be protracted.

The US military sees Sunday's poll as a crucial precursor to withdrawing its combat troops in August and said it would continue to provide Iraqi security forces with intelligence, logistical and air support for the election.

Two suicide bombings and a rocket attack killed 14 people in Baghdad and marred early voting for security forces on Thursday, despite a massive security operation involving 200,000 police and soldiers in the Iraqi capital alone.

Britain, Washington's chief ally in the 2003 invasion despite massive street demonstrations against military action at home, is currently holding an inquiry into its role in the conflict.

Prime Minister Brown on Friday faced questions there about his role in funding the war as finance minister under former British premier Tony Blair.

"Nobody wants to go to war, nobody wants to see innocent people die, nobody wants to see their forces put at risk of their lives," Brown said, but added: "I think it was the right decision and made for the right reasons."