December 18, 2005

BAGHDAD (AP) - Suicide bombers and gunmen killed nearly two dozen people across Iraq on Sunday, shattering the relative quiet since the parliament election, as U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney made a surprise visit and suggested the vote could pave the way for beginning a U.S. pullout.

Germany's government, meanwhile, said kidnappers had freed a German woman who was taken hostage in northern Iraq more than three weeks ago. Susanne Osthoff, a 43-year-old aid worker and archaeologist, was reported in good condition at the German Embassy in Baghdad.

A series of attacks that began late Saturday ended three days of near calm that began with Thursday's elections for the first full-term parliament since Saddam Hussein's was toppled.

Most of the people killed in the new violence, which included two suicide bombings, were police officers. The bloodshed came after authorities eased stringent security measures ordered for the elections and traffic returned to normal on the first full working day since the vote.

Cheney's visit, under heavy security, was so secret that Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was surprised when he met him at the U.S. ambassador's residence in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Coming just hours before U.S. President George W. Bush's address on Iraq, Cheney's one-day stop focused on the successful legislative election and the strong turnout in all of Iraq's religious and ethnic communities.

"The participation levels all across the country were remarkable," Cheney told reporters after an hourlong briefing from U.S. military commanders. "And that's exactly what needs to happen as you build a political structure in a self-governing Iraq that can unify the various segments of the population and ultimately take over responsibility for their own security."

The big turnout - particularly among Sunni Arabs who boycotted the election of an interim legislature last Jan. 30 - has raised expectations that increased political participation may undermine the Sunni-led insurgency and allow U.S. troops to begin pulling out next year.

But Cheney stressed the Bush administration did not plan a rapid withdrawal.

"You've heard some prominent voices advocating a sudden withdrawal of our forces from Iraq," he told hundreds of troops. "Some have suggested that the war is not winnable and a few seem almost eager to conclude the struggle is already over. But they are wrong. The only way to lose this fight is to quit and that is not an option."

Cheney met with Iraq's leaders and military commanders in the Green Zone, saw an Iraqi troop training demonstration at Taji air base, lunched with soldiers and gave a speech to troops.

Al-Jaafari told Cheney that he estimated a record 70 per cent of Iraq's 15 million registered voters went to the polls. He also described this year as "the most important in Iraq's history."

"We have been able to move forward several decades. The year 2005 is the most important in the history of Iraq in terms of productivity, of the establishment of the democratic process, the establishment of the constitution, the establishment of the Iraqi parliament," he said.

Iraqi authorities were still tallying the ballots that will determine the allocation of the parliament's 275 seats for four-year terms.

The election commission said it had received raw preliminary results in the form of tally sheets from seven provinces representing about 70 per cent of the total vote. Official Safwat Rashid said that they included Baghdad, Babil, Karbala, Najaf and Irbil, Anbar and Kirkuk and that the rest were "on their way."

He added that on Monday "we'll be able to provide you with 80 per cent of the results for Baghdad province. The rest will be completed in the coming days."

Rashid said the commission had so far received 345 complaints about the election, more than half claiming violations of campaigning rules. Other complaints were about names missing from voter rolls and some alleged interference with voters by party officials, police or elections workers.

Shiite Arabs account for about 60 per cent of Iraq's estimated 27 million people, compared with 20 per cent for Sunni Arabs and a similar proportion for Kurds. Both Shiite and Sunni political leaders have said they likely will have to form a coalition Cabinet to govern.

At least one hardline Sunni Arab politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq, said Sunday that the big turnout was a sign that insurgents are ready to participate in the political process. A number of militant groups pledged not to attack polling stations to allow Sunni Arabs to vote.

"Not participating in the previous elections was a mistake," said al-Mutlaq, who heads the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue. "By abiding to its promise not to attack the voting process, the resistance has proved that it is ready to lay down its arms if the dialogue and democratic process is genuine."

Al-Mutlaq said a coalition of all groups was necessary, otherwise the "scheme of dividing Iraq on the basis of Shiites and Sunnis, Kurds and Arab is looming."

In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier offered no details in announcing the release of aid worker Susanne Osthoff, saying only that she was free and now at his country's embassy.

Osthoff, 43, and her Iraqi driver disappeared Nov. 25 in northern Iraq. Days later, the two were shown in a videotape blindfolded and sitting on a floor, with militants - one armed with a rocket-propelled grenade - standing beside them.

The Canadian Press, 2005