TA-ATTACKS: Polling Place Explosions in Baghdad, Bequoba, Basra, Mosul

Reports of several explosions in major Iraqi cities are coming in an are expected to continue through the day. So far there have been explosions in Baghdad, Bequoba and Basra. There are believed to be casualties in these attacks and at least two Iraqi policeman and twenty civilians have been confirmed dead. The insurgents are believed to be using a mix of suicide bombers and suicide car bombers to carry out attacks.


Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar shows his stained finger as a sign of defiance to insurgents as he voted inside Baghdad's Green Zone. The blue ink is designed to stop voters from casting multiple ballots and is washable after three days.


LATEST Times in GMT
09:14 6th Suicide bomb attack kills at least 6 Iraqi civilians bringing total to over 20
08:56 5th suicide bomb kills 1 at Bahdad Polling Centre
07:78 Gun battle in Kuwait City believed to involve Kuwaiti security forces and Iraqi insurgents
06:50 Reports: Mortar blasts kill 4 civilians in Sadr City, Baghdad. 8 wounded.
06:40 Iraqi police: Suicide bomber in Mansour district of Baghdad explodes self and kills one civilian, injures others.
05:59 Iraqi police: Blast hits voting station in central Basra; no report on casualties
05:58 Explosions heard in religiously mixed Iraqi city of Baqouba as voting begins in national election
05:58 Explosions heard in religiously mixed Iraqi city of Baqouba as voting begins in national election
05:21 Iraqi police report suicide car bombing near west Baghdad polling station; at least one dead

The Iraqi election got off to a rocky road this Sunday morning with a series of insurgent attacks across the nation. The unmistakable sounds of mortar fire echoed around Baghdad as the polls opened, reports then came in of attacks across Iraq in the early hours. The attacks are clearly from organised groups and have gone widely unreported in Iraqs national media for fear of spooking the average member of the public.

The threat posed by suicide bombers is a great one and actions have been taken to defend against these, however, two bombers made their way past security and exploded themselves killing upwards of six people in Western Baghdad. Attacks in Mosul and Basra also came through the wires and several towns in the desert have completely shunned voting.

Members of the Iraqi electoral commission held a press conference at 9am local time in order to reassure voters, downplaying the acts they referred to them as "sporadic gunfire". However, for those in the major cities the sounds of Mortars and Rockets is unmistakable. Turnout is expected to take a turn for the worse.

It's a dark start to the morning as the Iraqi public tries to gauge the mood before deciding whether or not to vote. As the borders sit closed and all civilian air traffic grounded the threat to this fledgling democracy comes darkly from its own people.











Further Links
MSNBC
BBC News: Iraqi President Launches Election
YahooNews: Iraqi Election Begins Amid Attacks


[edit on 30-1-2005 by Banshee]

1 Death. Iraqi policeman.

Iraqis, please come and vote despite this! Spit in the face of the terrorists. Raise your ink stained finger!

It appears that the bomb went off at a checkpoint and it didn't affect voting, so that means at least the checkpoints are working

Originally posted by RPVillanova
1 Death. Iraqi policeman.

Iraqis, please come and vote despite this! Spit in the face of the terrorists. Raise your ink stained finger!

I think the ink stain was for the U.S. vote but I could be wrong.

On MSNBC, the reporter is saying he's heard about 8 explosions in the last 45 minutes.

Originally posted by AceOfBase
On MSNBC, the reporter is saying he's heard about 8 explosions in the last 45 minutes.

I'm watching Fox and have been since 4am... About 20 minutes into voting you could hear what sounded like Mortars in the background going off. You could see the talking head skirting around the sounds.

History in the making but sadly i think it will also be a dark day too

The checkpoints are working, and if anything happens beyond it, its because a policeman was paid off to plant a bomb.

Originally posted by RPVillanova
The checkpoints are working, and if anything happens beyond it, its because a policeman was paid off to plant a bomb.

Errrr... That logic is a bit flawed.

The "ring of steel" around polling places is sometimes little more than school desks arranged in a large circle.

Errrr... That logic is a bit flawed

sorry, im watching fox news.

Originally posted by FredT

I think the ink stain was for the U.S. vote but I could be wrong.

From what I am seeing on Fox, those in Iraq are getting inked also.
Despite this atack they are talking up the turnout for the election.

Yeah its going really well. And the Iraqi National guard is pulling this off by themselves mostly.

No citizen Casualties yet.

Every voter is being "inked" in a special dye thats washable after three days.

It is expected that counting the results will take two to three days.

edit:typo


[edit on 30-1-2005 by Nerdling]

It is expected that counting the results will take two to three days.

Lets savor those two days Im so happy

Al Jazeera is reporting that one Iraq policeman killed in the bombing in the Mansour district of Baghdad. They are reporting several explosions around the capital.

english.aljazeera.net
Several sections of the Iraqi capital Baghdad have been rocked by explosions as voters began trickling in to polling stations.

Several loud explosions rocked central Baghdad shortly after the start of voting on Sunday.

The blasts came from different districts in the centre of the capital and police said an explosion had jolted the Mansur district, an upper class area of western Baghdad.

Iraqi police reported a car bomb attack on a makeshift polling station at the Zahra school in Mansur. Police sources said one Iraqi security member was killed and two Iraqi soldiers and two civilians were wounded.

Sigh

AFP: 6 Explosions Hit Northern Iraqi City of Mosul

Voter turnout is encouraging, and they said the vote tally will be official in 10 days.

Good for the Iraqi people.

Talking head on MSNBC said he got a report from Iraq that the insurgency claims that to be effective, they must strike before 1PM Iraqi time. Didn't go into why, tho.

Live broadcasts show lots of voters turning out.

Every voter is being "inked" in a special dye thats washable after three days

Hopefully the ink's improved since Afghanistan.

It is expected that counting the results will take two to three days.

MSNBC reporting it could take from 10-14 days. 5300 voting stations across Iraq.

Al Jazeera is reporting that one Iraq policeman killed in the bombing in the Mansour district of Baghdad. They are reporting several explosions around the capital

I thought Al Jazeera was banned from Iraq during the election period?

-raven

I want to see live footage of an insurgency failing at suicide bombing and then a bunch of iraqis on their way to vote tackling him. What an awesome picture that would paint!

I want to see coverage of the violence that is occuring rather then a breif mention of it while they talk up turnout.

If someone even let off a stink bomb in a polling place during the US election, it would have been all over as a chemical attack!