Bombers wreak new carnage in Iraq

Attacks have increased in the run-up to elections

More than 20 Iraqis have died in two suicide bombings apparently targeting Shias as insurgents stepped up attacks ahead of historic national elections.

At least 14 Shia worshippers died when a bomber blew up a car as they left a Baghdad mosque.

Hours later, a vehicle reported to have been an ambulance exploded south of Baghdad, killing several people at a Shia wedding party, police said

Shia political leaders think militants are trying to stir up sectarian strife.

The blasts came after a notorious militant leader reportedly warned of a long fight against US forces in Iraq.

In an audio recording on an Islamist website, a voice purportedly belonging to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi also denounced Iraqi Shias for fighting alongside American troops.

In other developments:

• Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi says it will be impossible to prevent all rebel attacks during the 30 January voting

• A video tape posted on an Islamist website by Zarqawi's group shows militants beheading two Iraqis said to have worked at a US army base

• A Danish army officer and four military policemen are charged in Denmark with abusing Iraqi prisoners at a military camp near Basra last year

• An Italian soldier is killed when a helicopter is hit by rebel gunfire as it patrols southern Iraq

Burning cars

In the latest attack, a suicide bomber blew up an ambulance as guests celebrated a Shia wedding in a village near Youssifiya, about 20km (12 miles) south of Baghdad, AP news agency reported.

... someone sped up in a car and rammed a minibus which was parked there in front of the mosque Mohammed Mahmud, mosque employee

At least seven people were killed and several others wounded.

Earlier, a blast rocked al-Taf mosque in south-western Baghdad as worshippers celebrating the festival of Eid al-Adha - one of Islam's most important holidays - were leaving the building.

Some 40 injured - including children - were rushed to a nearby hospital, witnesses said.

A mosque employee told the AFP news agency he believed it was a suicide attack.

"The people were leaving the mosque when someone sped up in a car and rammed a minibus which was parked there in front of the mosque," Mohammed Mahmud said.

'Faceless campaign'

Worshippers, wearing smart clothes for Eid al-Adha, wailed as they carried their injured children off to hospital, or knelt over the dead bodies of their relatives.

The latest attacks come amid an increase in unrest in the run-up to Iraq's elections.

Zarqawi has a US bounty of $25m on his head

Our correspondent Caroline Hawley says every aspect of Iraq's first direct national vote for decades is being overshadowed by violence.

There has been very little door-to-door campaigning because several candidates have been killed and many more threatened, she says, so this is an almost faceless campaign.

Iraq's most revered Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has urged his followers to take part in the election, while some Sunni Muslim organisations have demanded a boycott.

In his recording, Zarqawi accused Shias of attacking and defiling Sunni mosques in Falluja "with the blessing" of Mr Sistani.

The recording warned the fight against US troops and their allies in Iraq "could last months and years".

The US has offered a $25m (£13m) reward for Zarqawi, whose group is affiliated to al-Qaeda.