VIOLENCE MARS BUILD-UP TO IRAQ ELECTION

Bagdad, 29 Jumadil Akhir 1435/29 April 2014 (MINA) – At least 36 people have been killed and 60 injured in a suicide bombing in eastern Iraq, two days before the country heads to the polls in the first nationwide elections since the 2011 withdrawal of US forces.

Polling stations across the country was targeted on Monday, killing at least 62 people, including 19 security personnel.

Seven policemen were also killed in a suicide attack near a polling station in central Kirkuk province, Al Jazeera quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

According to security and medical officials, the attack targeted Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the town of Khanaquin in Diyala province who had been celebrating the first public appearance of ailing President Jalal Talabani.

Talabani, a popular Kurdish leader who has been in Germany since December 2012 receiving treatment for a stroke, was seen voting in Berlin.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan reporting from Baghdad said the latest attack would be seen as another sectarian attack against Kurdish forces, further blighting these elections.

“The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had said they would carry out attacks both on campaign days and the polling days, and they’ve made good on their promise.”

Early voting

In the build-up to the election, Iraqi army and police personnel have begun voting before the rest of the nation’s 22 million registered voters head to polls.

The early voting on Monday is meant to free up the one million-strong military and security forces for election day on Wednesday, so they can protect polling stations and voters.

But as voting got under way, an explosion in El Mansour in western Baghdad killed five people and injured nine others. Police said the blast happened after a device was thrown into a polling station.

The attack appeared to target security personnel voting on Monday.

More than 9,000 candidates are vying for 328 seats in parliament, which is widely expected to be won by an alliance led by Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Security was tight amid concerns that Sunni fighters, blamed for a recent resurgence of sectarian violence, could target polling stations. (T/P04/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)