Policemen die in ambush as violence flares after Iraq poll

IRAQI insurgents ambushed more than 50 policemen on a road south of Baghdad yesterday, killing two, wounding 14 and leaving at least 16 missing on the worst day of violence since Sunday’s election.

At least a dozen civilians were killed elsewhere in yesterday’s bloodshed, which came a day after guerrillas in the north dragged Iraqi soldiers off a bus and shot 12 of them dead.

As the violence broke the relative peace in the wake of the elections, vote-counting continued yesterday, with partial poll results showing the country’s Shiite majority taking an early lead.

The United Iraqi Alliance, a bloc of closely linked Shiite parties, had a lead of three to one against its nearest rival, the current prime minister Ayad Allawi’s Iraqi List party.

The figures, taken from six of the country’s 18 provinces - including the capital Baghdad - showed the alliance winning more than 1.1 million votes, with Mr Allawi's list on about 360,500.

Electoral officials stressed that the statistics provided only a snapshot, as five of the six provinces were predominantly Shia areas.

However, with Sunni-dominated provinces recording low voter turnouts due to the threat of violence, the trend looks unlikely to be reversed.

The partial results represented 25 per cent of the vote in Baghdad province.