WARSAW, Sept 14 (AFP) - Iraq's interim president insisted Tuesday that his shattered country was heading toward democracy despite an upsurge in violence, as he wrapped up a visit to Poland.
"We are advancing toward democracy in an evolutionary way, although there are of course elements who want to stop this process with acts of violence," Ghazi Al-Yawar told the Polish parliament's foreign affairs committee.
Lawmakers said he assured them Iraq was "a country in the process of being stabilised, where the reality is different to what you can see on television screens."
He was speaking as a car bomb outside the main police headquarters in the Iraqi capital Baghdad killed at least 47 people, while 12 police officers and their driver were killed in Baquba when gunmen sprayed their vehicle.
Al-Yawar has insisted that elections in January will go ahead as planned, despite the insurgency raging against the US-led occupation.
The interim president is currently touring European countries pressing for support for his administration, including debt relief.
Poland has been a US ally since last year's invasion and leads one of the coalition's four military zones with 6,000 troops, including 2,500 Poles.
Nevertheless, polls show more than 70 percent of Poles oppose Warsaw's role in Iraq, and that is exacerbated by concern over loss of life -- three Polish soldiers were killed there earlier this week.
Al-Yawar, who has already had talks in Berlin and Rome, later flew out of Warsaw bound for Brussels and meetings there with EU and NATO leaders.