UNITED NATIONS/BAGHDAD, Jan. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Violence continued in Iraq on Monday as Iraqi expatriates began their registration for the upcoming elections and the Iraqi interim government planned to hold a meeting this week to encourage people's participation.

An Iraqi expat in Tennessee, the United States registers for the poll, Jan. 17, 2005. More than 75 registration and polling stations were opened Monday for overseas Iraqis in 14 countries across the Middle East, North America, Europe and Australia. (Xinhua/AP)

    More than 75 registration and polling stations were opened Monday for overseas Iraqis in 14 countries across the Middle East, North America, Europe and Australia.

    The International Organization for Migration (IOM), a Geneva-based non-profit organization, is supervising the out-of-country vote program.

    A total of 1.2 million Iraqis abroad are expected to register for the poll, said the IOM. Iraqis living abroad can register from Jan. 17 to Jan. 23 and cast their ballots at the same stations from Jan. 28 to 30.

    More than 1,000 Iraqis in Australia were the first to register,said the IOM.

    IRAQI INTERIM PM PLANS TO HOLD MEETING ON WIDE PARTICIPATION INELECTIONS

    Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi planned to hold a meeting on Thursday with different groups of the Iraqi society on their participation in the elections scheduled for Jan. 30, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told reporters.

    Annan welcomed Allawi's proposal, saying, "I think the effort the (Iraqi) government is making to bring everyone in is a good one."

    He admitted the security situation in Iraq was "far from ideal," but saying "measures are being taken."

    Annan, while saying the United Nations has done all it could toprepare for the elections, pledged to offer any advice or help to the new government after the elections.

    VIOLENCE CONTINUES

    In Iraq's northern city of Mosul, Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa was kidnapped outside his home on Monday, said a priest.The kidnappers seized him as he was walking and then tossed him into a trunk and went away.

    Casmoussa, 66, is the leader of Mosul's Syrian Catholic community. The motive of the abduction was not clear, and no grouphas claimed responsibility so far.

    Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls condemned the abduction,calling it a "terrorist act" and demanding the immediate release of Casmoussa.

    In Buhriz, 55 km north of Baghdad, gunmen attacked a checkpointof the Iraqi National Guard, killing eight and injuring four others, said an officer of the National Guard.

    Meanwhile, in Baiji, 250 km north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded at a police station, killing seven policemen and wounding25 others.

    Gunmen also attacked police stations in Sharqat, 260 km north of Baghdad and Dour, a Sunni village near Tikrit, killing three people and injuring three others.

    In Ramadi, the bodies of five Iraqi civilians and one Iraqi soldier were found, local official said.

    Meanwhile, the US troops have detained 81 suspected insurgents in the Anbar Province over the last three days, the US military said in a statement.

    Several mortars, bomb-making equipment and grenades were also seized during the above operations.

    The terrorist group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on Monday claimed responsibility for attacks on three polling stations in Basra.

    "This morning your brothers in al-Qaida in Iraq attacked three elections centers in Basra," said a statement posted on a website.

    Its authenticity has yet to be confirmed.

    Al-Zarqawi is the Jordanian terrorist mastermind whose group isbelieved to be responsible for kidnapping dozens of people and beheading some of them. He is one of the most wanted by the US-ledcoalition forces and the Iraqi government. Enditem