"We want to have a secure and safe environment so that Iraqis can cast their votes without being intimidated or in fear," Yawar told a press conference in NATO's Brussels headquarters.

"There is an urgency in doing so ... as days go by we're getting closer to the date of the election and we see it is a challenge to have these elections on time."

Yawar, on the latest leg of a European tour, met with NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer before talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana during the one-day trip.

But his trip was clouded by a fresh upsurge in violence in his homeland, as a car bomb killed at least 47 people at Baghdad's main police headquarters and gunmen shot dead 12 policemen and a civilian in Baquba.

The 26-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is currently considering the expansion of a fledgling training mission already in Iraq, as agreed at a summit in Istanbul in June.

"We're gaining momentum in establishing a free democratic Iraq ... but we've been plagued by terrorist acts," Yawar warned at his press conference.

"They are faceless groups with no leadership known or any ideology ... the most important mission they have is to undermine the stability of Iraq."

He added NATO officials had given him "a lot of words of support," but his country needed "further and further help from NATO."

"We are working day and night to meet and respect the date of the election in January and unless the UN said it's impossible to hold it, we will hold it at that time."

On Wednesday NATO ambassadors are expected to discuss options -- possibly including setting up a permanent training centre in Iraq -- although no immediate decisions are expected, diplomats said.

The options include that of NATO taking over all training currently carried out by the United States in Iraq -- although it seems unlikely that countries like France could accept such a prospect, diplomats said.

Another possibility would be to set up a permanent training "academy" in Iraq, they said.

De Hoop Scheffer promised to try to speed up the decision on training the new Iraqi army.

"The stakes are high, that's why I'll press for NATO to implement this decision speedily," he said.

The European Union, a major donor of aid to help rebuild Iraq, is currently considering how it can help organise the elections, amid a rising tide of violence.

EU foreign ministers agreed this week to send a new team of experts to Baghdad in the next few weeks, to produce proposals to put to an EU summit in November, to which Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has been invited.

Like NATO, the 25-member EU was deeply divided by last year's Iraq war -- which pitted anti-war countries like France and Germany against a pro-US camp led by Britain -- but has rallied round to help reconstruction efforts.

The Iraqi president has travelled to Poland, Germany and Italy. After Brussels he had been due to travel to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, but officials there said he has cancelled the trip.

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