The prime minister and his Iraqi counterpart have pledged to defeat the "forces of evil" turning the country into the "crucible" of terrorism and insurgency.

Tony Blair and Iyad Allawi held talks at Number 10 on Sunday and pledged that elections would go ahead in January despite the worsening security situation.

The leaders focused on the international significance of winning the struggle against the insurgents and terrorists who killed
300 people in Iraq in the last week.

Blair said: "In this conflict now taking place in Iraq, this is the crucible in which the future of this global terrorism will be determined.

"Either it will succeed and this terrorism will grow, or we will succeed, the Iraqi people will succeed and this global terrorism will
be delivered a huge defeat."

Allawi added: "We are succeeding in Iraq. We are succeeding against the forces of evil."

Hostage

Blair and Illawi said they were doing everything they could to secure the release of western hostages including a Briton threatened with beheading unless  women prisoners are released.

Allawi had been touted as a possible guest speaker at the Brighton Labour conference later this month but the idea was dropped following widespread opposition from internal party critics of the war.

The Iraqi prime minister said the world's media was unfairly focusing on the country's problems and ignoring the improvements that were taking place.

He said: "If the only picture you get of Iraq as a whole is the violence, that is disturbing. But that is not Iraq as a whole.

"There is a real hunger for elections and democracy in Iraq.

"Violence in some areas should not be allowed to stop elections in the country as a whole."