'Iraqi polls failure may embolden insurgents'

Amid relentless violence across the country that claimed the lives of over a dozen Iraqis in 24 hours, warnings intensified that the country risked sliding into civil war between its various faiths and being broken up.

Seven people were killed, including four policemen, and 38 others were wounded in a bomb attack late on Thursday outside a Shia mosque in the town of Khan Bani Said north of Baghdad.

That attack came after an aide to Iraq's top Shia leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the aide's son and four bodyguards were murdered Wednesday night after they left prayers in the lawless Sunni-majority town of Salman Pak, southeast of the capital.

The spate of attacks against Shias reinforced fears of sectarian strife leading up to and after Iraq's landmark January 30 vote, which Shia movements are expected to win easily and most Sunni groups have pledged to boycott.

Many fear that the Sunnis will feel excluded from the process and could vent their frustration through violence. Outgoing chief US diplomat Powell again emphasised the importance of all groups taking part if the vote is to succeed.

"I think the Sunnis want to have an opportunity to speak, with respect to how they wish to be led," he told PBS radio. "And so I think a successful election will be an election where most of the population has gotten a chance to vote."

Powell expressed confidence that "there will be sufficient turnout so that you get a sense of what the Sunnis want to do" and suggested a failure to achieve that would be a setback for the transition to self-rule.

But he warned the elections would not end the violence in Iraq and said "the insurgents might become more emboldened" if the ballot turns out to be less than successful.

An even starker warning came from Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif, who warned of civil war and the eventual break-up of Iraq if the situation does not improve.