Iraqis defy violence, go to polls
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Rescuers search for bodies under the rubble at the scene of a blast which leveled a building in northeastern Baghdad, killing many people including four children, police said. Karim Kadim / Associated Press |
At least 38 killed in attacks around the country
BAGHDAD - Iraqis voted Sunday in an election testing the mettle of the country's still-fragile democracy as insurgents killed at least 38 people across the Iraq, unleashing a barrage of mortars intent on disrupting the historic day.
About 19 million Iraqis are eligible to vote for who will lead the country after US forces pull out, in an election that will show whether Iraq can overcome the jagged sectarian divisions that have defined it since 2003.
Insurgents who vowed to disrupt the elections - which they see as validating the Shiite-led government and the US occupation - launched a spate of attacks as polls opened across the city and country.
Anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, speaking at a rare news conference in Teheran, urged Iraqis to take part in Sunday's election to help pave the way for Iraq's "liberation" from US forces.
Sadr galvanized anti-US sentiment following the 2003 invasion of Iraq but faded from the political scene since he vanished - he said to embrace religious studies in neighboring Iran - more than two years ago.
Sadr's Mehdi Army, once a feared militia, has largely laid down its arms but his political movement is trying to make a comeback.
"Although holding elections under the shadow of occupation does not have legitimacy, I ask the Iraqi people to take part in the election as a political resistance move so that the ground is prepared for occupiers to leave Iraq," Sadr said.
At least 14 people died in northeastern Baghdad after an explosion leveled a building, and mortar attacks in western Baghdad killed seven people in two different neighborhoods, police and hospital officials said.
Insurgents also launched mortars toward the Green Zone - home to the US Embassy and the prime minister's office - and in the Sunni stronghold of Azamiyah, police reported at least 20 mortar attacks in the neighborhood since day break.
Yet voters still came.
"I am not scared and I am not going to stay put at home. Until when? We need to change things. If I stay home and not come to vote, (it) will get worse," said Walid Abid, a 40-year-old father of two in Azamiyah.
About 6,200 candidates are competing for 325 seats in the new parliament, Iraq's second for a full term of parliament since the 2003 US-led invasion seven years ago this month.
Reuters contributed to the story.
Associated Press
(China Daily 03/08/2010 page12)
