Baghdad, Iraq ? An American kidnapped in November pleaded for his life in a video aired Tuesday, and at least a dozen Iraqis died in Baghdad as political violence continued to plague the country five days before Sunday’s crucial elections for a new National Assembly.

On a day the U.S. military announced that six American soldiers died, Iraqi police engaged in fierce shootouts with insurgents, including gunmen who were handing out leaflets warning Iraqis not to vote or risk seeing their families’ blood “wash the streets of Baghdad.”

In the hostage video, a bearded Roy Hallums, 56, speaking with a rifle pointed at his head, said he had been taken by a “resistance group” because “I have worked with American forces.” He appealed to Arab leaders, including Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, for help.

Hallums was seized by gunmen Nov. 1 along with Robert Tarongoy of the Philippines at their compound in Baghdad’s Mansour district. The two worked for a Saudi company that does catering for the Iraqi army. The Filipino was not shown in the video and it was not known when the video was made.

“I am please asking for help because my life is in danger because it’s been proved I worked for American forces,” Hallums said.

In Westminster, Calif., his daughter, Carrie Cooper, 29, said she last saw him at a family reunion last June.

“My heart’s broken to see my dad with a gun to his head. … He’s fearless, and he wanted to help the people there and rebuild Iraq,” she told KNBC-TV.

The U.S. military announced that a Bradley armored vehicle rolled into a canal northeast of Baghdad during a combat patrol Monday night, killing five American soldiers and injuring two from the Army’s 1st Infantry Division. The accident, which was under investigation, occurred near the town of Khan Bani Saad during a sandstorm, it said.

A sixth U.S. soldier died Monday of wounds from a roadside bomb that blasted an American patrol in Baghdad, the military said.

In this image taken from video released Tuesday, a man who identifies himself as American Roy Hallums pleads for Arab rulers to intercede to spare his life. Hallums, 56, was seized Nov. 1 along with Robert Tarongoy of the Philippines during an armed assault on their compound in Baghdad's Mansour district in Iraq.

At least 1,378 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

There has been speculation that the new Iraqi government might ask the Americans to set a timetable for foreign troops to leave. But Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Tuesday it was too soon to do that, saying Iraq must first build up its security forces to confront the insurgents.

Early today, the U.S. military reported a U.S. Marine helicopter crashed in western Iraq. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The helicopter went down near the town Rutbah around 1:20 a.m. while conducting security operations, the military said in a statement. The aircraft was transporting personnel from the 1st Marine Division.