BAGHDAD, Iraq - Eleven Iraqis and one U.S. Marine were killed Thursday as insurgents clashed with U.S. troops and blew up a school slated to serve as a polling center-pre-election violence that followed the deadliest day for U.S. troops since the war's start. Another U.S. soldier died in an accident.

The Marine was killed and five others were injured when insurgents launched mortars at their base near Iskandariyah, about 30 miles south of Baghdad.

In the capital, U.S. and Iraqi troops clashed with insurgents on Haifa street in the center of the city, witnesses reported.

The attacks came after the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the Iraq war began two months ago: 30 U.S. Marines and a Navy sailor died when a helicopter crashed in bad weather in the western desert Wednesday, and six other U.S. troops were killed in insurgent ambushes.

Attacks have increased ahead of Sunday's national elections, when Iraqis will choose a 275-member legislature and provincial councils across the country in the first balloting since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein. Sunni Muslim militants have vowed to undermine the elections, fearing victory at the polls by the Shiite Muslim majority.

U.S. soldiers stepped up operations, moving to forward positions around Baghdad until the end of balloting and tightening security at their main bases, a brigade commander said.

The interim government will deploy an additional 2,500 troops to help guard the elections, the Defense Ministry said. A total of 300,000 Iraqi and multinational troops will provide security, with Iraq's U.S.-trained forces taking the lead role.

About 9,000 Iraqi troops also are being dispatched to guard oil pipelines, which insurgents have repeatedly targeted.

Hundreds of U.S. soldiers assigned to the Louisiana National Guard's 256th Brigade moved out from Camp Liberty, located near Baghdad's main airport, to take up positions at smaller bases scattered around the city.

U.S. troops will not be positioned at polling sites-Iraqi forces will be on guard there. Deploying more troops outside of the main, heavily guarded bases will enable them to respond quickly if needed by Iraqi forces, said Brig. Gen. John Basilica.

"We're hoping to enable the Iraqi security forces to be successful in defending the polling sites so their countrymen can vote," said Basilica, the commander of the Lafayette, La.-based brigade. "It's a critical time for them."

Three Iraqi civilians were killed Thursday in a house in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, when a car bomb exploded nearby, said Alaadin Mohammed, a doctor at the local hospital. Hours later, mortar shells fell on a designated polling station in Samarra, police said.

Also in Samarra, armed men blew up a school administration building after first ordering the staff to leave, said police Lt. Qassim Mohammed. The destroyed building had been scheduled to be a voting center Sunday.

Sporadic clashes also erupted in Samarra between U.S. troops and armed men, killing one Iraqi civilian and injuring another, Mohammed said.

In Kirkuk, insurgents attacked seven polling stations with mortars and machine guns and opened fire on a police patrol, killing one policeman, authorities said.

A suicide car bomber struck a U.S. military convoy near the northern city of Beiji, witnesses said. There were no reports of casualties.

Another three Iraqis were killed and seven injured when a roadside bomb missed a U.S. convoy in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad, according to the area's hospital director, Dawoud al-Taie.

An Iraqi army soldier was killed and five civilians and two Iraqi police officers were wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded near the Iraqi soldier's patrol in Baqouba, said 1st Sgt. Brian Thomas of the U.S. military.

Near Tikrit, a roadside bomb killed one Iraqi bystander and narrowly missed another passing U.S. military convoy, police said. The attack happened on a road near Saddam's hometown, about 80 miles north of Baghdad, said police Lt. Shalan Allawi.

And in Ramadi, capital of the insurgent-plagued province of Anbar west of Baghdad, another Iraqi National Guard soldier was killed when insurgents attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi force guarding a voting center at a school, said police Lt. Safa al-Obeidi.

The body of Talib Minshid, a colonel in the former Iraqi intelligence under Saddam, was found in Baqouba, according to a hospital official, Mohammed Ali. Minshid had been abducted by armed men two days ago.

A U.S. soldier died Thursday of a gunshot wound on a base near Tikrit in what the American military command called an accident.

Four Iraqi National Guard soldiers and one officer were kidnapped Wednesday in Baghdadi, 90 miles west of Baghdad. The abduction occurred after the Iraqi soldiers' car was stopped by insurgents at a checkpoint, according to witnesses.

On Wednesday, rebels launched a series of car bombs and attacks on polling centers across the country that killed at least 13 people.

One of two car bombings on Baghdad's dangerous airport road Wednesday injured eight Australian soldiers in a convoy escorting Australian government officials, authorities said.

Defense Minster Hazem Shaalan accused neighboring countries of helping fuel fraud allegations against him.

The charges were first made last week by Ahmed Chalabi, a prominent Iraqi politician, who called for Shaalan to be investigated for allegedly transferring $500 million in cash from the Iraqi Central Bank to a financial institution in Lebanon.

The two men's political parties are major rivals in Sunday's elections.

A Defense Ministry official confirmed it had legally transferred hundreds of millions of dollars from the bank to a financial institution in Beirut to buy weapons.

The official added that the transfer was made with the knowledge of the Iraqi Central Bank, the Finance Ministry and the U.S.-led multinational forces.

Chalabi's call for an inquiry has triggered a series of allegations by the two Shiite politicians, who are running for parliament on separate tickets.
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