Eight Chinese nationals held hostage in Iraq have been safely transferred to the Chinese side and will be back to China soon, the Chinese embassy in Baghdad confirmed Sunday.

The embassy said all the eight were well and in good mood. It added that the hostages also expressed their appreciation to all sides that had made efforts to secure their release.

The eight Chinese, aged between 18 and 40, were kidnapped en route to Jordan by gunmen identifying themselves as the Islamic Resistance Movement, according to a video tape released by the group on Tuesday.

They were handed over to an Embassy representative at a mosque in the western city of Ramadi, according to Iraqi sources.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan also confirmed in Beijing on Sunday that the eight kidnapped Chinese citizens, all from east China's Fujian Province, have returned to the Chinese embassy in Iraq.

The embassy will arrange them to return to China as soon as possible, Kong said.

Kong again cautioned all Chinese citizens not to travel to Iraq these days due to the current security situation in Iraq.

With the Jan. 30 elections just one week away, the security situation is increasingly tense in the violence-hit Arab country.

On Sunday, al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi declared war on the Iraqi election in a warning intended to scare away voters. Next Sunday's election will be Iraq's first since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein's government.

"We have declared a bitter war against the principle of democracy and all those who seek to enact it," a speaker identified as Zarqawi said in an audio tape on the Internet.

"Candidates in elections are seeking to become demi-gods while those who vote for them are infidels. And with God as my witness, I have informed them (of our intentions)," he said.

However, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi dismissed Zarqawi's threats.

"We are insisting on smashing this aggressor group," Allawi told Al-Arabiya television. "The Iraqi people insist on victory and we will win."

Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant who is on top of America's most wanted list in Iraq, criticized the country's Shiite majority for embracing the election and urged the Sunni minority to wage a war against it.

Zarqawi's network has kidnapped foreigners and targeted Iraqi politicians in the countdown to the election. Despite a 25-million-US-dollar bounty on his head, he has managed to stay at large and continued to attack American troops.

Almost daily attacks, many of which were masterminded and conducted by Zarqawi's group, have raised fears of a bloodbath during the coming election, which is expected to select a Shiite-dominated parliament.

On Sunday, 10 Iraqis were killed in attacks north of Baghdad when insurgents blew up a voting center, a government building and a police station across the country.

The US military said American troops and Iraqi security forces have rounded up more than 100 suspected insurgents since Saturday in a bid to thwart rebel attempts to torpedo the election.

Many Sunni leaders have called for a boycott of the election, saying insurgent attacks in the Sunni heartland will prevent voting and produce an outcome in favor of Iraq's 60-percent Shiite majority. A low Sunni turnout could damage the election's credibility.