Iraq was marred by a spate of incidents on Thursday. The insurgents hit the country's infrastructure carrying out a mortar attack on Baghdad's main oil refinery, which ignited a fire at the Dura refinery, which feeds a power plant that provides electricity to the capital and surrounding areas.
Earlier in the day, officials in Lebanon confirmed that two Lebanese businessmen have been kidnapped from their home in Baghdad.
The day also witnessed 15 Iraqis being killed in separate attacks across the country as plans were unveiled to deploy 100,000 Iraqi soldiers to stave off a bloodbath on Election Day exactly a month from now.
Three border policemen were gunned down in Baquba, north of Baghdad, and the son of local police chief was kidnapped. In the capital, an Iraqi army officer was killed while strolling in the street.
Four civilians were killed in an ambush at Shorgat, north of the capital, while further north two civilians were killed and four hurt when a bomb exploded near their car as it followed a National Guard convoy.
Two more Iraqis died and four were wounded when they tried to break through a national guard roadblock in Syniya, a woman was killed and three people wounded by a roadside bomb that was placed between Baghdad and Balad and in Samarra, a national guard was killed and four others were wounded in an ambush.
The violence raised death toll to well over 100 in the past 48 hours. Despite the volatile security situation, US President George Bush insisted elections must go ahead as planned on Jan. 30, even as a militant group reiterated to sabotage the poll with deadly violence.
Meanwhile, the insurgent group that claimed responsibility for last week's attack on a US base in Mosul that killed 22 people has renewed its threat to kill anyone who takes part in next month's election.
