Suicide bomber strikes as Iraqis begin voting

Iraqis voted today in their country’s first free election in half a century, defying threats of violence from militants vowing to sabotage the balloting.

A suicide bomber at a polling station killed one police officer, and heavy mortar fire and dozens of explosions broke out across the capital.

Explosions were heard in several other cities, including Baquoba and Basra, less than two hours after voting began.

In Baghdad, a suicide bomber attacked a polling centre in the west of the city, police said, killing one police officer and injuring several other people.

Two mortars hit near the Ministry of Interior on the city’s eastern edge, one witness said. And there were exchanges of gunfire in the New Baghdad area in the eastern part of the city.

As he cast his vote, President Ghazi al-Yawer called it Iraq’s first step “toward joining the free world”.

Explosions also were heard in Baquoba, 35 miles north east of Baghdad, and in the southern city of Basra, the country’s second-largest, 340 miles south east of Baghdad.

Despite the explosions, voters nationwide began trickling past police guards and heavy security into schools and other buildings used as polling centres. A spokesman for Iraq’s elections commission said all the nearly 5,200 polling stations were opening on schedule.

Turnout was expected to be low in the early hours. Most attacks occur in the morning, and many Iraqis were likely to wait to see if rebels carry through with threats.

Later a suicide bomber blew himself up at a polling station in western Baghdad, killing four people – three of them police – officials and officials said.

Witness Faleh Hussein said the bomber approached a line of voters and detonated an explosives belt. Six people were also injured.

It was the second suicide attack against a polling station in Baghdad today.

One policeman was killed and several people injured in an earlier attack.