Washington: The US yesterday (Sep 12, 2004) said insurgency in Iraq will be brought under control and expressed confidence that elections in the war-ravaged nation will be held in January.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said American commanders are working with Iraqi military leaders and the interim Government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to put down the terrorists in control of Fallujah and other cities.

"The insurgency will be brought under control. It's not an impossible task," he told the NBC's 'Meet the Press' programme.

"When that insurgency is put down what the people of the world will see are Iraqis in charge of their destiny," he said adding that nobody is planning to postpone elections to be scheduled for January "Prime Minister Allawi has been quite clear about this."

President George W Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice was also confident that the Iraqi elections will take place as scheduled in January and the insurgents will not be able to disrupt it.

There is no doubt, she said on CBS-TV, the insurgents are trying hard to make certain that the political process underway would not take place but "in fact they are not going to win." The Iraqi people are moving towards elections.