But President Bush said in remarks prepared for his State of the Union speech that the United States will open a "new phase" in post-election Iraq increasingly focused on training Iraqi security forces.

Emboldened by Sunday's election, the police chief in Mosul demanded that insurgents hand over their weapons in two weeks or face a police onslaught. al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq threatened to assassinate the governor of the restive northern Sunni city.

Iraqis defied militants' threats and flocked to the polls on election day in the Shia south and Kurdish north, but many in the central Sunni Arab heartland -- where the 22-month-old anti-American insurgency is strongest -- stayed home.

While Bush's administration insisted the election was conducted fairly and world leaders heaped praise on Iraqi voters, Iraq's Muslim Clerics' Association railed against the country's first multi-party ballot in half a century.

"These elections lack legitimacy because a large segment of different sects, parties and currents ... boycotted," the Sunni religious group said in a statement as the vote count proceeded.

"This means the coming national assembly and government that will emerge will not possess the legitimacy to enable them to draft the constitution or sign security or economic agreements."

A sense of alienation among minority Sunni Arabs, who formed the backbone of Saddam Hussein's ruling class, poses a major challenge to Iraq's new leadership, which is certain to be dominated by members of the long-oppressed Shia majority.

Many Iraqis fear the election results, which are expected to be finalized early next week, could fuel the Sunni-led insurgency and foment sectarian strife. al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has vowed to pursue "holy war."

"We warn the United Nations and the international community of the danger of granting these elections legitimacy because this will open a door of evil," the clerics' group said.

Bush's remarks appeared to signal a coming shift in US policy in Iraq, where the US troop role in Iraq until Sunday's elections has been both to fight insurgents and train Iraqi security forces.