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Polling stations bombed as Iraq
election begins
BBC
At least 14 people have been killed in Baghdad
on the first day of voting in Iraq's parliamentary elections.
Suicide bombers attacked two polling stations in different areas
of the city killing at least seven people and wounding many others.
Earlier in the day, a mortar attack on a crowded market killed
seven and wounded at least 10 people.
The poll is seen as a security test for Iraq as the US prepares
to reduce its military presence in the coming months.
The early voting involves hundreds of thousands of government
employees, the sick and prisoners.
Tight security
The first suicide bomber attacked a polling station in the Mansur
district of Baghdad. Three soldiers were killed and 15 wounded.
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EARLY VOTING
Between 600,000 and 700,000 people due to vote before polls
on Sunday
Most are members of the security services
Hospital patients and prisoners also able to vote on
Thursday
About 19 million due at polls on 7 March
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A little under an hour later another suicide bomber blew himself
up in central Baghdad, killing at least four and wounding 10 others.
There were conflicting reports about the first attack of the day
in north-western Baghdad.
Agence France-Presse news agency reported that a mortar had been
fired at a polling station, but hit a crowded market. Seven people,
four of them children, were killed and 23 wounded.
Other reports said the blast was caused by a roadside booby-trap
or a rocket fired near a school due to be used as a polling station
on Sunday.
On Wednesday, three suicide bombers attacked police and a
hospital in Baquba, killing at least 30 people.
Insurgents have threatened to disrupt the elections - regarded as
an important test of Iraq's efforts to achieve sovereignty and
overcome sectarian divisions.
"Terrorists wanted to hamper the elections, thus they started to
blow themselves up in the streets," said Deputy Interior Minister
Ayden Khalid Qader said.
The majority of the country goes to the polls on Sunday. More
than 6,000 candidates are competing for 325 seats in the election.
The alliance led by current Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has
claimed credit for a sharp fall in violence between Shia and Sunni
militants.
Mr Maliki is being challenged by a number of groups, including a
Shia coalition that includes radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and
ex-PM Iyad Allawi's secular cross-sectarian alliance.
Travel around the country has been restricted and the authorities
have cancelled all leave for security services.
On polling day itself, more than 200,000 security personnel will
be on duty in Baghdad.
The US is planning to reduce its military presence by about half
in the coming months and withdraw completely from Iraq by 2011.
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