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Early voting in Iraq's general election was overshadowed Thursday by two suicide bombings at polling stations that killed seven soldiers and a mortar attack that claimed the lives of seven civilians.
The blasts wounded 48 people, including 25 Iraqi soldiers, and came despite massive security, with troops, prisoners and the sick casting their ballots ahead of Sunday's parliamentary election.
Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Omar al-Baghdadi has threatened to disrupt the election by "military means" and 200,000 police and soldiers have been deployed in the capital alone to try to prevent attacks.
The first suicide bomber blew himself up at a school being used as a polling centre in the upscale west Baghdad neighbourhood of Mansur. Three soldiers were killed and 15 wounded.
Forty-five minutes later, a second bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest in another school-turned-polling station in Baab al-Muadham, in central Baghdad, killing four soldiers and wounding 10.
Earlier, four children were among seven people killed and 23 wounded in an attack near a polling station in northern Baghdad that will be used in Sunday's election, a medical official said.
An AFP correspondent said the deaths appeared to have been caused by a mortar round which hit a building housing shops and apartments.
The roof of the building caved in killing those below and leaving a scene of devastation with blood and scattered children's clothes on the ground.
"I was speaking with my son and he was on the roof to fix the generator cable when the building was partly destroyed by a mortar," said Abu Nabil whose shop was across the street from the building hit.
"By chance, nothing happened to him, but I cannot hear."
The US military sees the poll as a crucial precursor to a withdrawal of combat troops in August and said it would continue to provide Iraqi security forces with intelligence, logistical and air support for the election.
Around 950,000 people unable to vote on Sunday were due to take part in Thursday's early voting for the second national ballot since dictator Saddam Hussein's ouster in the US-led invasion of 2003.
Around 850,000 military and security forces were expected to vote along with 97,000 prisoners with voting starting at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) and closing at 5:00 pm, according to election officials.
Meanwhile the US Senate unanimously approved on Thursday a resolution vowing to help make the election a success and calling on Iraqi political parties not to cast doubt on the vote's legitimacy or fan sectarian flames.
Nidhal, a nurse at Baghdad's Abid al-Haitham hospital, said she voted for a secular candidate. "I hope deep down in my heart that he will win, because Iraq cannot be governed by Islamists and we need a saviour," she said.
Sunday's vote will usher in a government tasked with tackling violence, corruption and an economy in tatters.
Sunni Arabs voters are expected to turn out in force in stark contrast to the last general election in 2005 which they mostly boycotted in protest at the rise to power of Iraq's long-oppressed Shiite majority.
That boycott deepened the sectarian divide and heightened violence that killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and which has only eased in the past two years.
A Shiite is almost certain to become prime minister.
Shiites were united in the 2005 polls but this time round are divided, a development hailed by some as a move away from rigid sectarian politics.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the Shiite head of the State of Law Alliance, a religious coalition with a secular outlook that includes Sunni tribal sheikhs, has said he was "certain" of victory.
His rivals include former premier Iyad Allawi, who heads the secular Iraqiya list, which has strong support in Sunni areas.
Also seeking the top job are former deputy premier Ahmed Chalabi, who was once favoured but now loathed by Washington; Shiite Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi and Finance Minister Baqer Jaber Solagh.
Under Iraq's electoral system no one party will emerge with the 163 seats needed to form a government on its own and the ensuing horse-trading to form a governing coalition could be protracted.
Campaigning in the weeks leading up to the vote has been dominated by a bitter feud over who can stand in the election. Around 500 candidates, both Sunni and Shiite, were excluded from the poll after being accused of links to Saddam's outlawed Baath party.
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