RAMADI, Iraq (AFP) - Six Iraqis were killed as violence flared in the flashpoint city of Ramadi as nearby Fallujah braced for an all-out assault with US and Iraqi troops massing in the rebel heartlands.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has vowed to restore order to the war-weary country ahead of January elections and issued another ultimatum to Fallujah even as the interim president declared his opposition to a military offensive.
In a step towards the landmark poll, Iraq began registering voters and potential candidates despite the violence, which claimed another victim with the shooting of Baghdad's deputy governor on his way to work.
Six Iraqis were killed and 15 others wounded in another day of unrest in Ramadi, a Sunni Muslim bastion west of Baghdad, hospital officials said. The cause of the deaths was not immediately clear.
An AFP photographer embedded with the US military in Ramadi said that marines securing the route for a daily convoy were attacked by small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire. They responded, downing at least one of the attackers.
"It is a daily hit and run," said Captain Patrick Rapicault, referring to the insurgents' tactics to target the convoy and flee the scene.
The city was relatively calm by the afternoon, with combat helicopters buzzing overhead, but rebel fighters and US troops clashed over the weekend in fierce fighting that left one marine dead and four others wounded.
Time is fast running out for the people of Ramadi and other hotspots such as neighbouring Fallujah as US and Iraqi troops intensify a campaign to crush pockets of insurgency ahead of the vote.
US war planes bombed insurgent targets in Fallujah at the weekend, but there were no reports of what has become a near daily bombardment on Monday.
Allawi, soon to depart on a trip to Europe, issued an ultimatum to residents of Fallujah on Sunday to surrender insurgents believed to be residing within its walls or face a US-Iraqi military assault.
"We have entered the final phase to solve the Fallujah problem," Allawi told a news conference in Baghdad. "If we cannot solve it peacefully, I have no choice but to take military action. I will do so with a heavy heart."
The prime minister has offered three conditions that would spare Fallujah and other rebel cities from military action.
These include the exit of foreign fighters and insurgents, the handover of heavy and medium-sized weapons and allowing the government to begin the process of reconstruction in these cities.
But Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar, on a landmark visit to Kuwait, declared his opposition to an assault on Fallujah, in an interview published Monday.
"I totally differ with those who believe there is a need for a military solution to the (Fallujah) issue," Yawar said, describing the US-led coalition's managing of the crisis as wrong and instead calling for continued dialogue.
"This will encourage neutral citizens to stop sympathizing with the rebels, most of whom are Saddam Hussein loyalists and forces which came from outside Iraq," Yawar said.
He also accused neighbouring Iran of playing a "negative role in Iraq" and blamed it for assassination of more than 18 Iraqi intelligence officers.
Since October 14, US troops have encircled Fallujah, where the military has repeatedly launched air strikes and some limited ground incursions. They are also doubling their troop strength to 2,000 in Ramadi.
Despite the strength and size of the US-led military in Iraq, an insurgency that flared up in the aftermath of last year's invasion has unleashed daily bombings and mortar attacks against army targets.
In a badly aimed strike late Sunday, 17 Iraqis were killed and eight wounded when two mortars, apparently aimed at a US base in the northern city of Tikrit, slammed into a hostel used by workers at a local factory.
Members of the US-backed government and other figures of Iraqi authority are also favourite targets in the insurgency.
In the latest assassination, a deputy Baghdad governor, Hassam Kamel Abdel Fattah, was shot dead by unknown assailants as he was driving to work, Iraq's interior ministry said. Two bodyguards were also injured.
Foreign civilians have similarly been caught in the violence as militants use hostages as political weapons to undermine the US-led military coalition and interim government.
Shosei Koda became the first Japanese hostage at the weekend to be executed in Iraq after Tokyo refused to bow to his kidnappers' demands to pull its 550 troops from the country.
In a separate crisis, a Polish woman held hostage by a militant group in Iraq has pleaded for the withdrawal of Polish troops and the release of women prisoners to save her life.
11/01/2004 - 13:58 GMT - AFP