Defying death to have their say

SOME came on crutches, others walked for miles then struggled to read the ballot, but across most of Iraq millions turned out to vote yesterday, defying insurgent threats of a bloodbath.

Suicide bombs and mortars killed up to 44 people yesterday and up to 15 British soldiers died when their RAF Hercules military transport plane crashed north of Baghdad about a half hour after polls closed at 5pm (2pm Irish time)

But Iraqis still came out in force for the first multi-party poll in 50 years.