Iraq's interim prime minister urged the country's rival ethnic and religious groups to unite on Monday after millions voted in a historic election, but he warned that insurgents would launch more bloody attacks. Within hours of his speech, the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera aired a videotape purporting to show insurgents shooting down a British military transport plane that crashed in Iraq. British officials declined comment but Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said earlier 10 servicemen were believed to have died in the crash on Sunday.
Allawi sought to seize momentum from Sunday's election, telling television viewers: "Starting from today, I will begin a new national dialogue to ensure all Iraqis have a voice in the new government."
Allawi, a contender to be renamed prime minister, is keen to build popular support after a poll in which election officials estimate eight million Iraqis voted, confounding predictions many would be scared away by insurgent threats of a bloodbath.
Yet while the election day onslaught of suicide bombers and mortars was less bloody than expected, Allawi warned the insurgency was far from over. "There will be violence," he said, but added: "The terrorists know they cannot win.
"The whole world is watching us. As we worked together yesterday to finish dictatorship, let us work together towards a bright future - Sunnis and Shi'ites, Muslims and Christians, Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen." Allawi was not alone in warning of more violence.
"If I were an insurgent I would be really bitterly disappointed at what happened yesterday," said a US diplomat. "I certainly wouldn't conclude I should surrender. I would conclude that I have to show I'm still a player," he said.
VIDEO PURPORTS TO SHOW DOWNING OF PLANE: The video shown on Al Jazeera was issued by the 1920 Revolution Brigades, a known militant group. It showed an explosion at a distance and burning debris of a what appeared to be a plane on the ground filmed at close range.
The crash of a Hercules transport plane was the deadliest single incident of the war for Britain.
Also on Monday, three US Marines were killed in action south of Baghdad, the US military said.
Although Iraqis queued up enthusiastically to cast their ballots in many places on Sunday, numbers appeared to be low in Sunni Arab areas where the insurgency is strongest - highlighting the communal rifts facing a new government.
Shias, who make up about 60 percent of Iraq's population, are widely expected to have won most votes in the election, and officials in the top Shia-led coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, have already claimed a degree of victory.