Iraq is facing 'decisive moment'

Allawi and Bush presented a united front over Iraq

US President George W Bush has said events in Iraq are coming to a head in the run-up to the country's elections.

At a news conference with Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who earlier addressed the US Congress, Mr Bush said "a decisive moment" was approaching.

"Terrorist violence may well escalate as the January elections draw near."

In London the 86-year-old mother of UK engineer Ken Bigley, who is being held hostage by militants in Iraq, made a tearful plea for his release.

As next January's deadline for elections in Iraq nears, Mr Bush says the US must remain in Iraq to fight insurgents, who he said are part of the global terror threat.

Please show mercy to Ken and send him home to me alive - his family need him, I need him Elizabeth Bigley Mother of hostage Mother begs for mercy

"If we stop fighting the terrorists in Iraq, they would be free to plot and plan attacks elsewhere, in America and other free nations," he said.

Mr Allawi said most of Iraq's 18 provinces were ready to hold elections tomorrow" if necessary, and that violence was concentrated in three provinces only.

"If elections go forward, democracy in Iraq will put down permanent roots, and terrorists will suffer a dramatic defeat," Mr Bush said.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, however, suggested that only partial elections might be held, excluding places where violence was too severe.

He told a Senate committee that would be better than no elections at all.

'Mercy'

In New York, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the polls were a way of improving security in Iraq and that was the reason there had been a rise in violence in recent weeks.

"The terrorists are trying to stop the elections. Some victims have been foreign nationals including the two Americans who were kidnapped and killed and we obviously think about Mr Bigley. Most of the victims overwhelmingly have been Iraqis."

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Kenneth Bigley was "only a working man who wants to support his family," his mother said in her appeal.

"Please show mercy to Ken and send him home to me alive. His family need him. I need him," she said as she struggled to maintain her composure while making the televised address.

Militants who seized him along with two American hostages they later killed have threatened to kill the Briton too.

The Iraqi government said on Thursday it would not comply with the kidnappers' demand to free Iraqi women prisoners.

Mr Bigley himself was seen earlier in a video appealing to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to help save his life. His wife, Sombat, also made an appeal in her native Thailand.

'Grateful'

Italy says it cannot confirm reports that the two Italian hostages also held in Iraq have been killed.

Government officials said a website carrying the reports was unreliable and there were no photos or video footage.

Your decision to go into Iraq was not an easy one, but it was the right one Iyad Allawi In quotes: Allawi speech Speech raises questions

Addressing a joint session of the US Congress on Thursday, Mr Allawi said Iraq was succeeding in establishing freedom and democracy.

He said that despite a "tough struggle with setbacks" the overwhelming majority of Iraqis were grateful for what Americans had done for their country.

"Today, we are better off, you are better off, the world is better off without Saddam Hussein. Your decision to go into Iraq was not an easy one, but it was the right one."

Reacting to the statements by Mr Allawi and Mr Bush, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry rejected their assessment of the situation in Iraq.

He said things were "not getting better and we need to change the course to protect our troops and to win".