DUBAI, Jan 27 (AFP) - An Islamist group linked to Al-Qaeda warned on Thursday it would attack Iraqis involved in the general election even after voting was over.
"We have warned you not to go to the centres of this sordid comedy, called voting bureaus ... we renew our warning. They will be the targets of the mujahedeen (Islamist fighters)," Ansar al-Sunna, which claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a US base last December, said in a website statement:
It was not possible to authenticate the statement which was signed Command of the Army of Ansar al-Sunna, and which was described as a "last warning".
"Voters should know that even if they do not take part in the poll (but attend the voting stations) they will not escape the hands of the mujahedeen, including after the elections," said the statement.
The same group has previously warned Iraqis against taking part in Sunday's election for an interim National Assembly, saying that the voting centres would be targets for attack.
Already some 40 voting stations set up for Iraq's estimated 14.2 million eligible voters have been destroyed by insurgent attacks.
One of the deadliest attacks claimed by Ansar al-Sunna was that on the US base in the northern city of Mosul on December 21 in which 22 people, including 14 American troops, were killed.
The group issued what it called "a final warning to heads of polling stations in Mosul ... to resign immediately".
"If you escape before the elections, you will be hunted down after the polls," it said, naming seven such officials.
01/27/2005 18:41 GMT - AFP