Four Iraqis killed in Baghdad rocket attack
Rumsfeld again says some areas might be too violent for voting
 |  An unidentified woman cries after her husband died in a rocket attack in Baghdad on Friday. |
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 Allawi addresses Congress, thanks America.
 CNN's Aaron Brown on insurgents and kidnappers.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least four Iraqis were killed and 10 others wounded in an attack by insurgents in Baghdad, while U.S. warplanes pounded targets in Falluja.
The latest fighting came a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested that parts of Iraq might be excluded from elections set for January.
On Thursday, Rumsfeld said some areas of the country might be too dangerous for polling. Nevertheless, he expressed optimism that elections would push through as scheduled.
However, on Friday, The Associated Press reported that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage appeared to contradict Rumsfeld, saying elections planned for January in Iraq must be "open to all citizens." (Full story)
Meanwhile, insurgents in Baghdad abducted six Egyptians. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said all were from the same mobile phone company. (Full story)
The six were abducted in two incidents -- four technicians Wednesday in a remote location near the Syrian border and two engineers from the company's Baghdad office late Thursday, said Naguib Sawiris, the president of Orascom, an Egyptian-owned cell phone company.
Rumsfeld held open the possibility that elections might go forward, even if some areas were not under coalition control.
"Let's say you tried to have an election and you could have it in three-quarters or four-fifths of the country. But in some places you couldn't because the violence was too great," Rumsfeld said Thursday, hours after the leaders of the United States and Iraq met in Washington.
"Well, so be it. Nothing's perfect in life, so you have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election? You bet," he said. (Full story)
On Friday, Rumsfeld met with Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to talk about security. Insurgents in Iraq have been using suicide bombing, hostage-taking, beheading and other tactics.
Rumsfeld said everything possible would be done to give all Iraqis the chance, but he again acknowledged that some areas might be inaccessible to voting.
Trying to put an upbeat face on the future of his young government, besieged by the insurgency, Allawi is attempting to drum up support for Iraq at the United Nations, where the General Assembly is meeting, and in Washington, where he addressed Congress and met with President Bush.
The interim prime minister has repeatedly vowed that the violence endured by Iraq will not deter the upcoming balloting.
He said that if elections were held today, they could be staged effectively in 15 of the country's 18 provinces, and cited South Africa, Sierra Leone and Indonesia as nations where elections were held despite violence.
"Today we are better off, you are better off, the world is better off without Saddam Hussein," Allawi said in his address to Congress on Thursday. (Transcript of Allawi's address)
U.S. operation in Falluja
In Friday's attacks on Falluja, U.S. warplanes struck the Hay al-Shuhada and Hay al-Sinaie neighborhoods.
There was no account of damage or casualties in the city, a main enclave for insurgents.
This is the latest action by U.S. warplanes in Falluja. In past weeks, the United States has targeted sites believed to be used by the terror network of Jordanian militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The four Iraqis were killed Friday when a rocket fired by insurgents landed on a busy stretch of Palestine Street in east-central Baghdad, police said.
Insurgents were thought to be targeting the al-Qanat police station, 100 meters from where the projectile landed, police said.
Wave of abductions
Meanwhile, British hostage Kenneth Bigley is still in the hands of his Iraqi captors.
Bigley and two Americans were abducted September 16 from their residence in Baghdad. The three men were in Iraq working on reconstruction projects.
The two Americans were beheaded Monday and Tuesday. (Full story)
Bigley's captors said he will face the same fate unless the British government meets their demand to release Muslim women from Iraqi prisons. (Full story)
U.S. officials said the only women being held in Iraq are two "high-value detainees." Both are being held at Camp Cropper near the Baghdad airport, according to Iraqi sources.
The interim Iraqi government Thursday reiterated that it has no imminent plans to release any detainees -- as have Washington officials. (Full story)
Desperate but unanswered pleas to release Bigley have taken their toll on his family and put pressure on British Prime Minister Tony Blair. (Full story)
Other developments
Turkey's government says it is considering an alternative route for its truck drivers bringing goods into neighboring Iraq in an effort to stem kidnappings. (Full story)Iraqi Interior Ministry adviser Sabah Kadhim confirmed a mortar attack near the Italian Embassy on Friday morning, but there were no further details. A U.S. Army combat patrol came under attack in Muqdadiya, wounding one soldier and damaging a military vehicle, a 1st Infantry Division spokesman said.In south-central Iraq, multinational soldiers found and confiscated several dozen AK-47 rifles, pistols and a large amount of ammunition at checkpoints in the Polish-led area of responsibility. Sixteen people were detained and were being questioned.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
