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US
captive
in
Iraq
pleads
for
release
An American abducted in Iraq has been shown pleading for his life in a videotape on a violence-ridden day in which 15 people were killed and polling stations came under attack.
Confronted
with
the
violence,
which
fighters
warned
would
only
escalate
before
Sunday's
elections,
interim
Prime
Minister
Iyad
Allawi
said
it
would
be
"reckless
and
dangerous"
to
fix
a
timetable
for
the
withdrawal
of
US
troops. A
bearded
man,
wearing
a
black
and
cream
shirt,
and
identified
as
Roy
Hallums,
appeared
in
a
videotape
broadcast
on
Aljazeera,
begging
Arab
leaders
to
secure
his
release. The
US
embassy
last
month
said
Roy
Hallums,
56,
had
been
captured
in
November -
one
of
six
taken
from
the
office
of
the
Saudi
Arabian
Trading
and
Contracting
Company
in
Baghdad. His
video-appeal
came
amid
worsening
violence
sweeping
Iraq
before
the
elections. Bloodshed At
least
15
people
were
killed
on
Tuesday,
including
a
senior
Baghdad
judge
and
his
brother-in-law. Two
civil
servants
and
an
Iraqi
interpreter
working
for
the
US
military
were
also
killed,
the
interior
ministry
said. A
civilian
was
killed
when
he
tried
to
overtake
a
US
convoy
in
Baghdad,
while
three
police
officers,
a
civilian
and
two
attackers
died
in
clashes
southeast
of
the
capital. In
Samarra,
north
of
Baghdad,
two
Iraqi
soldiers
and
a
civilian
were
killed
during
a
clash
with
fighters,
police
said. Loyalists
of
al-Qaida ally
Abu
Musab
al-Zarqawi
also
claimed
to
have
attacked
more
than
a
dozen
polling
centres
overnight. Iraqi
police
said
the
attacks
caused
severe
damage
to
centres
across
Saddam
Hussein's
home
province
of
Salah
al-Din
in
northern
Iraq,
but
no
casualties
were
reported. "Trained
snipers
will
be
ready
to
kill
the
apostates
who
go
to
the
electoral
lairs,"
warned
a
statement
signed
by
al-Zarqawi's
group. Another
armed
group,
the
Islamic
Army
in
Iraq,
in
a
statement
ordered
"its
forces
everywhere
to
escalate
attacks
to
the
maximum". Confronted
with
the
rising
tide
of
violence,
Allawi
said
he
would
not
fix
a
timetable
for
the
withdrawal
of
US
troops. "I
will
not
set
final
dates
because
dates
now
would
be
both
reckless
and
dangerous,"
he
said. US
soldiers
killed Northeast
of
Baghdad,
a
US
Bradley
fighting
vehicle
rolled
into
a
canal
during
a
patrol,
killing
five
soldiers
from
the
army's
1st
Infantry
Division
and
injuring
two
others,
the
military
said
on
Tuesday. The
accident,
which
is
under
investigation,
occurred
near
the
town
of
Khan
Bani
Saad
during
fierce
sandstorms
on
Monday
night. Another
US
soldier
died
of
wounds
from
a
roadside
bomb
that
hit
an
American
patrol
in
Baghdad,
the
military
said.
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