Gunmen yesterday assassinated a member of an influential Sunni clerics' group that has called for a boycott of national elections, just a day after Iraqi officials announced the balloting would be held on January 30 in spite of rising violence in Iraq.

　　Sheik faidh Mohamed Amin al-Faidhi, a member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, was shot by gunmen at his home in northern Mosul - a sign of the continuing violence that wracks the country.

　　The slaying could further alienate Iraq's Sunni Arab minority ahead of the January 30 election. The association is already calling for a boycott of the vote, and if many Sunni heed its call, the legitimacy of the election could be deeply undermined.

　　In an interview with The Associated Press yesterday, Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said his government was determined to hold the election as scheduled. He described those calling for a boycott as "the eventual losers" and "a small minority."

　　"The forces of darkness and terrorism will not benefit from this democratic experience and will fight it," Allawi said. "But we are determined that this experiment succeeds."

　　The vote for the 275-member National Assembly will be Iraq's first election since Saddam Hussein's fall and is seen as a major step toward building democracy.

　　But the ongoing violence, which escalated this month with the US-led offensive against Fallujah, has raised concerns that balloting could be nearly a practical impossibility in insurgency-torn regions.

　　Iraqi authorities insist ballots will be cast even in volatile areas - including Fallujah, Mosul and other parts of the Sunni Triangle.

　　In a gesture to Sunnis, Allawi yesterday ordered an inquiry into a raid by US and Iraqi forces on Baghdad's Abu Hanifa mosque, one of the holiest Sunni shrines in Iraq. The raid just after Friday prayers left three people dead and enraged many Sunnis.

　　Elsewhere yesterday, a US patrol that came under attack returned fire, killing two attackers in Hawija, about 240 kilometers north of Baghdad, according to witnesses.

　　The military said yesterday a US soldier died after he was wounded in an attack the night before in Baghdad. At least 1,222 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003.

　　The former police chief of the northern city of Mosul was arrested after allegations that his force allowed insurgents to take over police stations during this month's uprising, Deputy Governor Khasro Gouran said yesterday.

　　Brigadier general Mohammed Kheiri Barhawi was arrested on Sunday by Kurdish militia in northern Irbil, where he fled after he was fired in the wake of the uprising

　　In sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, a conference on Iraq was moving toward giving strong backing for the government's war on insurgents as well as urging it to meet its opponents to try and persuade them to take part in the general elections.

　　The conference, which ends today at the Red Sea resort, will not set a deadline for the withdrawal of the US-led multinational force, as desired by France and some Middle Eastern countries.

　　Iraq has asked Egypt to convene the conference in a bid to augment world support for its battle against insurgents and its plan to hold national elections.

　　The two-day meeting brings together the neighboring states of Iraq, plus Egypt and several other Arab countries, China, as well as regional bodies such as the Group of Eight, United Nations, European Union, Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

　　In paris on Sunday, the Paris Club of creditor nations agreed to write off 80 percent of the US$39 billion that Iraq owes them. Iraq owes another US$80 billion to non-Paris Club lenders, led by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

　　(The Associated Press)