IRAQ - Jan 3 - Three Car Bombs And A Roadside Attack Kill 16.

Insurgents push ahead with their deadly campaign to sabotage Jan 30 elections with three car bombs and a roadside attack, one near the PM's HQ's in Baghdad, and others targeting Iraqi National Guardsmen and a car belonging to a US risk consulting group. At least 16 people were killed, bringing the toll in the last two days to about 50 and indicating how poorly prepared Iraq is to provide its own security ahead of the elections in the face of an insurgency determined to wreck the ballot. US and Iraqi leaders have repeatedly warned that the guerrillas would step up violence. The Iraqi defense minister, meanwhile, traveled to Egypt to ask for help trying to get minority Sunnis to take part in the vote. The Sunnis, who make up about 20% of the population, have said the country is far too unsafe to hold legitimate elections. Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan suggested that the vote could be postponed by a few weeks to give the Sunnis enough time to prepare and take part in the vote. Sunni areas of Iraq, mostly surrounding and west of Baghdad, have seen some of the worst violence in recent weeks. Late in the afternoon, a suicide bomber plowed his car into a sport utility vehicle that was part of a convoy that had just left the Green Zone, the heavily fortified area in the heart of Baghdad that houses the US Embassy and Iraqi government offices, said Bob Callahan, a US Embassy spokesman. Callahan said the convoy was carrying employees of the New York-based risk consulting group Kroll but had no details. An AP photographer at the scene saw three bodies burning inside the wrecked vehicle. A Kroll spokesman declined to comment, saying the company was still investigating what happened. The checkpoint is the main Green Zone exit for trips to Baghdad International Airport, and American contractors and diplomats commonly make the journey along the dangerous airport road in SUVs. Earlier in the day, an explosive-laden car blew up when the driver rammed a checkpoint outside the offices of PM Ayad Allawi's National Accord Party in Baghdad. Two policemen, a civilian and the driver of the car were killed, and 25 people were wounded. Witnesses said machine-gun fire broke out after the explosion, which set fire to three police vehicles. Allawi, a secular Shiite leader was not inside the building when the blast occurred, his aides said. The radical Ansar Al Sunnah Army - known for numerous deadly attacks against US troops, Iraqi forces and politicians - claimed responsibility for the strike in Baghdad. More violence was also reported

A roadside bomb in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit killed at least six guardsmen and wounded four, the police said. And another suicide car bomb in Balad, about 80 kms, north of Baghdad, killed four Iraqi National Guard soldiers and wounded 14, said a US military spokesman, Neal O'Brien. The driver of the car bomb died in the blast. "Anti-Iraqi forces continue to target the Iraqi National Guard" because the ING is creating conditions for "successful elections", O'Brien said. An Iraqi policeman was killed and two others were wounded when a beheaded, booby-trapped corpse exploded in the town of Mosul as "Iraqi police officers secured the site and attempted to search the remains in order to identify the body", a government statement said Jan 3. It was not clear when the incident happened. The attacks followed a string of attacks Jan 2 that left more than 30 people dead. The worst was a suicide car bombing on a bus full of National Guardsmen that killed 22 of them and their driver. Shiites, who make up about 60% of Iraq's 26 mn people, are eager for the vote to go ahead so they can take power long denied them when the Sunni Arab minority had power under Saddam Hussein. But they hope the Sunnis will participate so that the vote will not be considered illegitimate. Iraq's insurgents, believed to be predominantly Sunni, repeatedly have targeted Shiites in apparent attempts to widen sectarian rifts.