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Iraq elections 'challenge' in parts of Mosul

Nov-26-2004 » Filed Under: TF Olympia

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MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - Holding elections in parts of Mosul could be a challenge, a US military commander for northern Iraq admitted, saying that insurgents are bent on targeting Iraqi forces and fomenting ethnic strife.

"I think clearly there are some areas in the city where elections can be held today. There are some parts of the city where we have significant challenges ahead of us before elections could be conducted," Brigadier General Carter Ham told AFP at the main US base in the city.

"We have a lot of work to do. I am more optimistic in areas out in the province, outside the city," he said Friday.

With over a million residents, Mosul is the third largest city in Iraq.

Fully rebuilding the city's police force in time for the January 30 polls would be "impossible", he added, despite a three-step plan in place to achieve that goal.

Almost 80 percent of the city's 5,000-strong police force quit on November 11 in the wake of coordinated attacks by insurgents on several stations.

US and Iraqi forces, many of them national guardsmen from the neighboring Kurdish provinces, have moved into key police stations in the city and the provincial government building.

Ham said units from Iraq's paramilitary national guard and regular army will fill the vacuum left by police desertion to secure the elections.

"Iraqi security forces will play a significant role in the elections," said Ham, who leads the 8,000-strong US-led Task Force Olympia based in the north.

"The image that none of us want to see is a US soldier standing at an Iraqi polling station."


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