US President George W. Bush sought to encourage high voter turnout despite the mounting carnage in the country caused by insurgents.

"We're having elections on January 30. It is a historical moment," Bush told reporters at the White House.

"I know it's hard for a reason, and the reason is that there is a handful of folks that fear freedom," he said.

Bush said 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces were "relatively calm" and added that, in some, "the terrorists are trying to stop people from voting."

The second-in-command of US forces in Iraq, Lieutenant General Thomas Metz, said Thursday that security was lacking in four provinces in central Iraq's Sunni Muslim belt, but that postponing the elections would be a mistake.

According to an internal State Department poll, only 32 percent of Sunnis are "very likely" to vote and 88 percent said they would stay away from the polls if they feared attacks.

A US official said the findings were "not surprising," but that Sunnis, who enjoyed power until US troops toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, would be encouraged to vote.

Amid increasing unrest, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is sending a retired general to Iraq to evaluate the development of Iraqi security forces, a centerpiece of the US strategy to defeat the growing insurgency, the Pentagon said Friday.

The mission reflects deepening concern over the situation in Iraq, as rebels intensify their campaign to derail January 30 elections.

The New York Times Times, which broke the story, said retired general Gary Luck's review would be "open ended" and include a broader look at US military operations, including troop levels and the strategy for fighting the insurgency.

But Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita said Luck would assess US efforts to train and field Iraqi security forces, whose halting performance has compared unfavorably with an Iraqi insurgency, which appears to be growing in strength and sophistication.

A Pentagon official said rebels have been packing more explosives into roadside bombs such as one that killed seven US soldiers in a Bradley fighting vehicle on Thursday. The Bradley is second only to the M1 Abrams battle tank in armored protection.

"We've noticed in the recent couple of weeks that the IEDs (improvised explosive devices) are being built more powerfully, with a more explosive effort in a smaller number of IEDs," said Brigadier General David Rodriguez.

In addition, two marines died in the volatile western province of al-Anbar on Thursday.

Thursday's toll was the largest for US troops since last month's suicide bombing in a military mess hall at a Mosul base that killed 22 people, including 14 US service members.

The US military said Saturday it arrested 14 suspects in Mosul during raids in the northern city and surrounding areas over the past 24 hours.

It also confirmed the arrest of a militant in the city suspected of having links to the Al-Qaeda frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The capture of Aziz Sadun Ahmed Hamduni on December 22 was first announced by the Iraqi government on Thursday bringing to three the number of Zarqawi-linked militants arrested in the area since then.

Several Sunni Muslim militant groups have warned everyone against taking part in the upcoming elections for a 275-member national assembly, and many Sunni political and religious leaders have called for a delay or boycott of the vote.

Regardless of the outcome of the elections, the Shiite political front-runner, Abdel Aziz Hakim, said the Sunni Muslim minority was guaranteed posts in the next government.

"All must participate in the governmental authority and we will insist that they (Sunnis) be represented in the government, that they have posts and they should also have a voice in drafting the constitution and responsibilities in the government," Hakim said in an interview with AFP.

Another senior Shiite running on the same list as Hakim said he would be open to even guaranteeing seats for Sunnis on the assembly.

"We are open to an accord between all parties involved including the United Nations that can provide temporary representation on the national assembly for some parts of the country that for some reason does not take part in the vote," Jawad al-Maliky of the Dawa party told AFP.

Meanwhile, jurors at a court martial at a Texas military base acquitted an army sergeant of manslaughter charges Friday in the drowning death of an Iraqi civilian but convicted him of assault, which could carry a maximum sentence of six months.

Sergeant First Class Tracy Perkins was accused of forcing Zidun Fadel Hassun to jump in the Tigris River in Baghdad as punishment for violating a curfew in Samarra in January 2004.

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