A UN envoy visited the Shi?ite cleric who holds the key to Iraq?s political future yesterday, after two days of violence that killed 100 Iraqis.

The most revered man in Iraq for the country?s Shi?ites, who make up around 60 percent of the population, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has called for direct elections before US occupiers hand back sovereignty to Iraqis by the middle of this year.

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi heads a UN team that is in the country to discuss the possibility of holding elections ahead of the June 30 deadline.

Brahimi, an Algerian, met the reclusive cleric in the holy city of Najaf the day after a suicide bomb in Baghdad killed 47 people at an army recruitment centre. A similar attack on Tuesday killed 53 people lining up for jobs at a police station.

Brahimi was accompanied by an Arab aide and Iraqi UN guards into Sistani?s well-guarded complex. The 73-year-old leader has not ventured out of his house or met a Westerner for years, aides say.

Sistani, whose top religious rank grants him powerful influence in the Shi?ite community, called mass demonstrations earlier this year to press for elections to replace a US plan to choose a government through regional caucuses. US plans are for elections only next year.

Brahimi is due to leave Iraq by Friday at the latest, a senior US-led administration official has said. The rest of the UN team has started touring provinces. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to give his opinion on the elections on February 21.

Victims mainly newly recruited soldiers

In the latest bout of violence, the US Army?s 1st Armored Division said a bomb exploded on Wednesday evening as troops were passing by in their vehicles, killing two soldiers.

The attack on the US patrol came hours after the second major suicide attack in 24 hours aimed at Iraqis working with the U.S. occupiers.

Only a few of the bodies from Wednesday?s blast had been taken for burial. Doctors said some corpses were difficult to identify due to mutilation or bad burns.

The police and new army are central to Washington?s plan to hand over power to Iraqis. Most of Wednesday?s 47 victims were newly recruited soldiers reporting for duty.

The attacks follow a pattern of targeting Iraqis seen as collaborating with the US occupation. Twin suicide bombings in northern Iraq against two Kurdish parties allied with the United States killed more than 100 people on February 1.

At least 374 American soldiers have been killed in combat since US-led forces invaded Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein last March.

An explosion on Thursday blew a small hole in a road and smashed windows in a residential area of Samawa in southern Iraq near where Japanese troops are stationed, but there were no reports of injuries, police said.

There is much concern in Japan about the safety of Japanese military personnel who are being sent to help rebuild Iraq in Japan?s riskiest military mission since World War Two.

In the southern city of Diwaniya on Wednesday, five Spanish soldiers on patrol were wounded when an explosive device was thrown at them, Spain?s Defence Ministry said.

Suleiman al-Khalidi