Senior Iraqi judge shot dead in Baghdad

A senior Iraqi judge has been assassinated in eastern Baghdad today as dissident groups step up a terror campaign prior to Sunday's elections in Iraq.

Judge Qais Hashim Shameri and his son were killed in a gun attack as they left their home this morning. Initial police reports indicate that their driver was also wounded in the ambush.

Earlier this month insurgents shot the provincial Governor and Baghdad's deputy chief of police and have said that they will continue with attacks on those they deem to be collaborating with the "forces of the occupation".

Though the US military had noted a decline in attacks in recent days, security sources in the Iraqi capital had echoed the concern of many that attacks would be stepped up in the days preceding the election, which is five days away.

The interim authorities are continuing to appeal for Iraqis to vote on Sunday. But a tape aired on Sunday from militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi again urged Sunni Muslims to fight the "infidel" voters.

Zarqawi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head, has been attempting to exploit tensions between Shiite and the minority Sunni Muslim factions in the run up to the elections, the first to be held since the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime by coalition forces.

The deputy US military commander in Iraq, Brig. General Erv Lessel, had earlier this week warned that the quite period looked like "the calm before the storm" and said that there were concerns about what he described as "something more spectacular" before the election.

On Monday, US sources confirmed today, a soldier was killed and five others injured when a patrol was attacked with a roadside bomb in western Baghdad.

Yesterday, outside the Australian Embassy, which was bombed last week, Australian security forces shot and wounded the driver of a vehicle who was said to be acting "in a suspicious manner".

(SP)