The outfit's group in Iraq, headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it would continue its war against US-led forces and Iraqis working with them.

In another development, Arabic news channel Aljazeera aired a videotape purportedly showing the downing of a British military transport aircraft with a missile near Baghdad.

The video, issued by an outfit called the the 1920 Revolution Brigades, showed an explosion and subsequently the blazing debris of an aircraft on the ground.

The crash, which killed 10 people on Sunday - was Britain's worst single death toll in Iraq.

"We in the al-Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq will continue the jihad until the banner of Islam flutters over Iraq," said the statement posted on an Islamist Web site.

Insurgent groups, including the jihad faction led by al-Zarqawi, had vowed to bomb "infidel" polling stations and kill anyone who dared to vote in Sunday's elections.

The Times, London, quoted military reports as saying there were 260 attacks on Sunday in Iraq — 'about five times the usual daily average.

'These included a hundred raids on polling stations and the use of eight suicide bombers. In all, 25 Iraqi civilians, eight members of the security forces and 31 insurgents were killed.'

Meanwhile, interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi urged rival factions to forge unity and warned that violence had not ended just because the election had exceeded expectations.