http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_THE_VOTE?SITE=AKFAI&SECTION=HOMEJan 30, 3:51 AM EST
Iraqis Vote in Election, 17 Die in Attacks By HAMZA HENDAWI
Associated Press Writer
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraqis voted Sunday in their country's first free election in a half-century and
insurgents made good on threats of violence, launching three deadly suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations across Iraq. At least 17 people were killed, including five policemen.------------
In a potentially troublesome sign, however,
the polls were deserted in heavily Sunni cities like Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra west and north of Baghdad. Sunni extremists, fearing victory by the Shiites, have called for a boycott, claiming no vote held under U.S. military occupation is legitimate.
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In restive Mosul in the north, American troops and Iraqi soldiers roamed the streets, using loudspeakers to announce the locations of polling sites and urging people to vote.
But streets were deserted.------------------
In the most deadly attack Sunday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a polling station in western Baghdad, killing himself, three policemen and a civilian, officials said. Witness Faleh Hussein said the bomber approached a line of voters and detonated an explosives belt. Six people were also injured.
In a second suicide attack at a school in western Baghdad, three people and the bomber died, police said. And in a third suicide mission, at a polling center in a western part of Baghdad, one policemen and the bomber died, police said.
Also, three people were killed when mortars landed near a polling station in Sadr City, the heart of Baghdad's Shiite Muslim community. Seven to eight others were wounded, police said. In addition, two people were killed when a mortar round missed a school serving as a polling center and hit a nearby home in southwestern Baghdad, said police Capt. Mohammed Taha. Another policeman was killed in a mortar attack on a polling station in Khan al-Mahawil, south of Baghdad.
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