Those who ignored it were stopped and beaten by Tigers cadres guarding the checkpoints.The Tigers also prevented voting in the city of Jaffna, which is controlled by the government but dominated by Tamils. The Sunnis called for an international investigation after the Jadriyah detainees were found The government denies the militia allegations. Also on today, insurgents attacked US and Iraqi troops in western Iraq, triggering fire fights that left 32 insurgents dead, a US military statement said. One US Marine and an Iraqi soldier suffered minor injuries during the attack, the US forces said. Most of the fighting took place around the a mosque in the center of the town.

"Marines reported that they received sustained small arms fire originating from the mosque," the statement said. "A nearby US Army outpost also reported receiving enemy fire from the area surrounding the mosque." The US forces estimated that at least 50 insurgents took part in the coordinated attack, which quickly dissipated when the Iraqi and US forces returned fire, the military said Iraqi troops entered the mosque and found spent ammunition. America's death toll rose yesterday as the US military reported a US Marine killed the day before in Haditha, 220 kilometres northwest of Baghdad. An Army soldier died Thursday in a traffic accident near Beiji, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad and a second soldier died in another accident near Balad, the command said.. Amir Peretz, the Israeli Labour Party's new leader, plans to force the agenda to domestic Israeli issues and away from relations with the Palestinians in preparation for a general election which could now be as early as the end of February. Mr Peretz will try to identify growing measures to combat poverty and social deprivation among lower-income Israelis as the key dividing line between himself and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, one of his most senior allies indicated yesterday. The Labour leader, who triggered the election by ending Labour participation in Mr Sharon's Likud-led coalition, said after the Prime Minister, who had planned to go to the country next November, was now "adamant" elections should be held as soon as possible. Morocco-born Mr Peretz, leader of the country's trade union federation, added: "I will let him decide the date within the period of the end of February and the end of March.

He has a lot of support among Tamils because of his willingness to listen to their demands for some form of autonomy, and the Tigers were expected to allow people to cross from the areas they control, where there are no polling stations, into government-controlled territory to vote. The ceasefire has brought three and a half years of relative peace, but analysts are warning that it is crumbling.The Tigers' decision to prevent the 100,000 or so Sri Lankans who live in areas they control from voting could cost Mr Wickramasinghe many votes. The Tigers have been fighting for more than two decades for an independent homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east More than 64,000 people died during the war. Their diametrically opposed views meant the vote turned into a referendum on the peace process.