BAGHDAD — A concerted wave of attacks struck Baghdad and other cities across the country on Sunday as Iraqis began voting to elect a new parliament and possibly a new prime minister. Explosions reverberated across the capital even before the polls opened and continued through the morning haze for the first hours of voting.

Insurgents in Iraq had vowed to disrupt the election, and the attacks appeared timed to frighten voters away from polling sites. Mortars fell in neighborhoods across Baghdad, including at least three in the Green Zone, where government ministries and embassies are clustered, while and embassies are clustered, while bombs exploded elsewhere. Two bombs struck apartment buildings, destroying them.

At least 5 people were killed and 16 wounded before polls had been opened 90 minutes, according to the Ministry of the Interior, citing preliminary reports.

“This is the security that Maliki brings to us,” a woman in Karrada, on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, said, referring to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. She said she was fleeing with her son, though it was not clear to where.

Mr. Maliki cast his ballot in the Green Zone even as explosions rumbled like thunderclaps. In a televised interview, Mr. Maliki expressed optimism that the turnout would not be diminished by the violence. “We have high hopes for democracy,” he said in remarks broadcast on state television. “There are some people trying to hinder it.”

By morning only small crowds appeared at polling stations in Baghdad, though it was too early to judge the ultimate turnout. One voter was defiant. “We’re Iraqis,” Abdul Azak said, voting with his wife and baby. “We’re not afraid.”

The attacks appeared to unite Iraq leaders. “These are the messengers of Iraq’s enemies, the enemies of democracy,” said Ammar al-Hakim, a leader of a Shiite coalition, the Iraqi National Alliance, that hopes to deny Mr. Maliki a second term. “It is a desperate and weak message.”

The violence was not limited to Baghdad. In Anbar province, west of the capital, at least 10 explosions rang through the city of Falluja at 8 a.m. The police there said they were mortars fired from the outskirts of the city.

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See Bloc Takes On Entrenched Kurdish Parties in Iraq, The New York Times, March 6, 2010, by Sam Dagher.

Iraqis living in Iran head to polls

Al Jazeera English
March 6, 2010 — 2:35