Baghdad urges Annan to intervene to stop U.S - British raids, as voters headed for ballots

Iraq urged the United Nations to intervene to stop the US - British raids against it.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahaf said in a message to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that the US - British raids cause damages to the Iraqi people and represent a violation of Iraq's independence and sovereignty. It urged Annan to intervene to stop these aggressive works.

This comes at a time when more than 10 million Iraqi voters headed to vote in the local elections.

Joumaa Fayad, an official at the Ministry of Interior, said, "The voters will choose 4,851 members out of 5,910 candidates and that the elections will take place in 15 out of 18 governorates, as three governorates in northern Iraq are out of the Iraqi government's control.