BAGHDAD (AFP) - An upbeat Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi pledged "new plans" to crush insurgents before promised January elections as he met British Foreign Minister Jack Straw on a surprise visit here.
As Allawi again expressed optimism following a lengthy international tour that government control could be restored nationwide in time for the polls to be organized, fresh unrest rocked rebel strongholds north and west from the capital.
"We must have a suitable atmosphere for the conduct of election and the security situation requires exceptional" forces, Allawi told Iraq's interim parliament.
"Therefore, the government has decided to establish new plans for achieving the security and for chasing those who are trying to prevent us from achieving this national job," he said.
The hawkish premier, who spent two and half weeks abroad including talks with his top US and British allies, did not elaborate on his plans.
He stressed that his government was still maintaining its January target date for the elections, despite growing doubts that they will be able to go ahead on a credible basis nationwide.
Allawi's comments came as US and Iraqi troops mopped up the last redoubts of resistance in the Sunni Arab rebel bastion of Samarra, stormed last Friday in one of the largest counter-insurgency operations since last year's US-led invasion.
The resort to force in a densely populated city of 250,000 people sparked criticism from Sunni leaders but US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said a similarly tough approach was necessary with other rebel enclaves to prepare the promised polls.
The US military said Tuesday that 127 insurgents and 20 civilians had been killed in the operation to retake Samarra, north of Baghdad.
Twenty-four foreign fighters were captured, the military said, although it added that it had failed to capture any top suspects and was only just beginning the daunting task of winning over a largely hostile population.
"It's not going to happen overnight," Colonel Randy Dragon, commander of US forces in Samarra, told an AFP reporter on the scene.
US diplomat Paul Bremer, who headed the occupation administration wound up in June, acknowledged that the US-led coalition never had the troops at its disposal to impose its authority across Iraq.
Members of the interim parliament were also quick to remind Allawi of the uphill struggles he faces.
"The bombings and the security conditions continue to worry everyone at the national council, as well as the joblessness issue from which a lot of the insecurity stems," said Rasem al-Awadi, a lawmaker from Allawi's own party.
In the main northern city of Mosul, three Iraqis were killed and three wounded Tuesday in yet another car bomb attack targeting a US military convoy, police said.
Separately, police in the city said they discovered three headless bodies of Iraqis over the past 72 hours.
In the Sunni rebel bastion of Latifiyah immediately south of Baghdad, four Iraqis were killed Monday in a drive-by shooting, police said.
In the capital, two Iraqis were wounded when mortar fire hit the interior ministry building, while a similar attack targeted the oil ministry without causing casualties and damage.
Buoyed by the triumphal reception accorded him by the US administration, Allawi was boosted by an unannounced visit from another top ally.
Britain's Jack Straw first met with Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq and later held Baghdad talks with the Iraqi premier.
But the unflinching support for Allawi from London and Washington could not hide continuing controversy over their original pretexts for war.
"To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two," Rumsfeld said overnight when asked about alleged connections between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, a key plank in the two allies' case for invading Iraq last year.
Rumsfeld, a crucial figure in President George W. Bush's re-election bid, later said in a statement that his answer had been misunderstood.