Bombs kill at least 38 as Iraqis go to the polls

A series of deadly bomb attacks on polling stations killed at least 38 people in Iraq on Sunday, as voters turned out in huge numbers for the country's second parliamentary elections since the fall of Saddam Hussein. At least 110 more were injured in the attacks, most of which took place in the capital Baghdad.

A man shows his ink-stained finger after voting in Baghdad's Sadr City Reuters

Bombs, rockets and mortar rounds also hit other cities, including Baquba, Fallujah and Samarra.

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Q+A: Correspondent Rory Mulholland in Baghdad

Jessica Phelan

There was a massive turnout despite the attacks, which had halted by midday.

"This has not deterred Iraqis from going out and exercising their democratic right to vote," correspondent Rory Mulholland told RFI.

After years of daily explosions people are taking Sunday's violence in their stride and queues have formed at polling stations, he says.

Aside from the bombings, the elections look set to be "free and fair", Mulholland reports, with several hundred Iraqi and international observers monitoring the vote.

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Despite allegations of vote-buying in the run-up to the vote, "on the day itself I think voters are going in to the polling stations without undue intimidation and I think the count is likely to be reasonably fair as well," Mulholland says.

A massive security operation is in place for Sunday's voting, with 200,000 police and soldiers deployed in Baghdad alone.

Al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq, vowed on Friday to use "all kinds of weapons of the mujahedeen" against anyone casting their vote in these elections.

One day earlier, 14 people were killed in attacks on or near polling stations as early voting began for soldiers, prisoners and the sick.

Who is standing?

State of Law – Shia-based alliance led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki;

Iraqiya – secular list led by Shia former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and serving Vice-President Tareq al-Hashimi;

Iraqi National Alliance – largely Shia, bringing together the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's supporters and estranged Washington ally, Ahmed Chalabi;

Iraq Unity – led by Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani, who hopes to be a compromise candidate for Prime Minister;

Kurdish Democratic Party – based in Kurdish autonomous region, led by its President Massoud Barsani, possible coalition partner;

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan – based in Kurdish autonomous region, led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, possible coalition partner.