Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Wednesday that rebel attacks have reduced since the national election began on Sunday.

He said the success of the election had dealt a major blow to the insurgents who have not carried out a major attack since the balloting, and predicted they will be defeated within months.

But it was unclear whether the drop was the start of a trend. Insurgent activity also slowed after the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis in June but picked up weeks later, Allawi said in aninterview with an Iraqi television.

"They might be reorganizing themselves and changing their plans," Allawi said.

He said the insurgents did not expect the security plan during the election and they were surprised by the deployment of a battalion on streets of Baghdad.

Despite the lull in major attacks, insurgents blew up an oil pipeline Wednesday near the central city of Samarra, police said.

Several suicide bomb and mortar attacks in Baghdad and other cities on the election day left about 40 dead, but the authoritiessaid they had expected more.

Allawi also said a "national dialogue" had started on the future government, mainly aimed at persuading Sunni parties which boycotted the election to join negotiations on drafting a new constitution.

The talks aimed at forming a homogenous government and maintaining Iraqi unity, he said after a major Sunni clerical group declared that Sunday's elections "lack legitimacy" because many Sunni Arabs did not participate, saying the new government would have no mandate to guide the nation's future.

"Now that the political parties were starting consultations to form the next elected government, all agreed on the importance ofthis being a fully inclusive process. All parts and all sectors ofIraqi society should be involved," said a statement released Wednesday by Allawi's office.

The election was for a 275-member national assembly that will appoint a government and oversee the drawing up of a constitution.If it succeeds, elections for a permanent government will be held in December.

Three days after the balloting, the Iraqi election commission has still not released any results or turnout figures.