John Kerry says U.S. war on Iraq was serious mistake

BEIJING: US Secretary of State John Kerry admitted that the Iraq war was a serious mistake for which the sufferings continued even today, Geo News reported on Tuesday.

In an interview to Chinese news agency, US Secretary of State, John Kerry said he had termed this decision of former President George Bush going for war on Iraq a grave mistake.

Even today, the region's many problems are caused by the Iraq war, the U.S. is trying to address, citing example of President Obama’s pulling out the troops from Iraq, he said.

The statement of the US Secretary of State has come at a time when Iraq has already suffered an irreparable loss and the country is bleeding in a civil war.

30 militiamen killed in Iraq clashes: police

BAQUBA: Militants attacked the town of Muqdadiyah northeast of Baghdad on Friday, sparking clashes that killed 30 militiamen, a police colonel and a doctor said.

The fighting began on Friday morning and eased later in the day with security forces still in control of Muqdadiyah, a key approach to Diyala provincial capital Baquba, and militants deployed in adjoining areas.

Militiamen have joined Iraqi security forces in fighting against a major offensive by militants that overran all of one province and chunks of three more in a matter of days.

Security forces performed poorly during the initial days of the assault, in some cases shedding uniforms and abandoning vehicles in their haste to flee.

While they seem to have recovered somewhat from the shock of the onslaught, retaking ground in certain areas, the militants have made gains elsewhere. (AFP)

 

Iraq sunni radicals overrun former chemical weapons factory

WASHINGTON: Sunni radicals in Iraq, who have overrun a swathe of territory north of Baghdad in a lightning offensive, have taken control of one of Saddam Hussein´s former chemical weapons factories, a US official said Thursday.

"We are aware that the ISIL has occupied the Al Muthanna complex," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. But she said she didn´t think the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants would be able to produce usable chemical weapons there, because any materials remaining are old and unwieldy.

The complex, located just 45 miles (72 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, began producing mustard gas and other nerve agents, including Sarin, in the early 1980s soon after Hussein took power, according to a CIA factsheet. The program expanded to its height during the Iran-Iraq war later that decade, and produced 209 and 394 tons of Sarin in 1987 and 1988 respectively. But the CIA writes that the facility shut down after the first Gulf war, when UN resolutions "proscribed Iraq´s ability to produce chemical weapons.

"In the early 1990s, the site was used to oversee efforts to destroy Iraq´s chemical weapons stockpile. Psaki said, "We remain concerned about the seizure of any military site by the ISIL. "However, she said, "we do not believe that the complex contains (chemical weapons) materials of military value and it would be very difficult, if not impossible to safely move the materials.

 

Iraq PM berated as US mulls air strikes on advancing militants

BAGHDAD: Top US officials turned on Iraq´s leader, blaming his "sectarian" policies for the country´s crisis as Washington Thursday weighed calls for air strikes on Sunni militants bearing down on Baghdad.

The sharp criticism of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki came as he scrambled to repel an insurgent onslaught that has seen an entire province and parts of three others fall out of government control in an offensive that could threaten Iraq´s very existence.

The militants´ swift advance has sparked international alarm and the United Nations has warned that the crisis was "life-threatening for Iraq".

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been displaced in the nine days of fighting and an unknown number killed, while dozens of Indians and Turks have been kidnapped.

With President Barack Obama mulling a request by Baghdad for air strikes on the advancing militants, US officials castigated Maliki, publicly echoing long-held criticisms among his domestic opponents of sectarianism.

US Vice President Joe Biden urged greater political inclusion in Iraq in phone calls with Maliki and other Iraqi officials, the White House said.

Biden "stressed the need for national unity in responding to the ISIL threat against all Iraqi communities," in calls with Maliki, Iraqi Council of Representatives Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, and President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani, it said.

The top-ranking military officer, General Martin Dempsey, and former US commander David Petraeus both also rounded on the premier.

"There is very little that could have been done to overcome the degree to which the government of Iraq had failed its people," Dempsey said.

Petraeus warned at a conference in London that Washington risked becoming an "air force for Shiite militias" and supporting "one side of what could be a sectarian civil war" if political reconciliation were not agreed.

Iraq requests strikes
The remarks came after Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters in Saudi Arabia that Baghdad had asked Washington "to conduct air strikes against terrorist groups".

Zebari acknowledged "the need for drastic political solutions.

"Washington has deployed an aircraft carrier to the Gulf and sent military personnel to bolster security at its Baghdad embassy, but Obama insists a return to combat in Iraq is not in the cards.

The United States spent billions of dollars over several years training and arming Iraqi security forces after disbanding the Sunni-led army following the 2003 invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

But the security forces wilted when faced with the militant offensive on June 9 which saw insurgents quickly capture Mosul, a city of some two million people, and then parts of Salaheddin, Kirkuk and Diyala provinces.

Some abandoned their vehicles and uniforms when faced with the insurgents, which are led by ISIL fighters but also include Saddam loyalists.

The Sunni fighters have been led by the powerful Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but also include a wide coalition of other Sunni Arab militant groups, as well as loyalists of executed dictator Saddam Hussein.

Though the alliance has made significant territorial gains, the wildly divergent ideologies of its constituent groups means it may struggle to survive over time, analysts say.

And while they struggled in the early part of the offensive, Iraq´s security forces appear to be performing better in recent days, managing to make advances in certain areas, though militants have made their own gains elsewhere.

Kerry expected to travel to Iraq 'soon': US sources

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to travel to Iraq "soon," congressional sources said Thursday.

There was no further information about when Kerry might visit the country amid a militant offensive.

President Barack Obama earlier announced a new diplomatic initiative saying he was dispatching the top US diplomat this weekend for talks in the Middle East and Europe.

30 militiamen killed in Iraq clashes: police

BAQUBA: Militants attacked the town of Muqdadiyah northeast of Baghdad on Friday, sparking clashes that killed 30 militiamen, a police colonel and a doctor said.

The fighting began on Friday morning and eased later in the day with security forces still in control of Muqdadiyah, a key approach to Diyala provincial capital Baquba, and militants deployed in adjoining areas.

Militiamen have joined Iraqi security forces in fighting against a major offensive by militants that overran all of one province and chunks of three more in a matter of days.

Security forces performed poorly during the initial days of the assault, in some cases shedding uniforms and abandoning vehicles in their haste to flee.

While they seem to have recovered somewhat from the shock of the onslaught, retaking ground in certain areas, the militants have made gains elsewhere. (AFP)

Fighters gain ground in battle for north Iraq town

BAGHDAD: Militants gained ground on Monday in a battle for a strategic enclave in northern Iraq that provides a corridor to Syria, officials and residents said.

Security forces insisted they had repelled an assault on Tal Afar, a Turkman-majority town in Nineveh province, but multiple officials and a resident said militants had entered it, with one saying they were in control.

"Armed groups managed to take control of Tal Afar," a Nineveh provincial government official told, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"They clashed with security forces and (tribal fighters), who had to withdraw from the town."

Resident Mohammed Khalil said militants had taken several districts but not the entire town, and added that families were fleeing to nearby Sinjar between Tal Afar and the Syrian border.

The local official responsible for the town and surrounding areas, Abdulal Abbas, declined to say whether it was now in militant control, but said Tal Afar was dealing with "martyrs, wounded, chaos and refugees".

Abbas said 200,000 people -- nearly half the area´s population -- had fled, and asked for international assistance.

Tal Afar, a major Shiite-majority town in otherwise Sunni Arab and Kurdish-dominated Nineveh province, had briefly held off a militant offensive that saw fighters led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group take control of vast swathes of territory of north and north-central Iraq in a matter of days.

The town has provided a crucial bulwark against militant-controlled territory on either side of Iraq´s border with Syria.

Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan, however, insisted that militants had not encroached on the town, proclaiming that fighters "do not control one metre (yard) of Tal Afar".

Obama: US will help but Iraq must mend divisions

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama said Friday that he is examining options short of sending ground troops to help Iraq counter a extremist offensive, but warned the country must heal its own divisions.

"We will not be sending US troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraqi security forces," Obama said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki´s government has asked the United States to provide military assistance to counter a stunning advance by ISIL, an extremist movement.

But, in brief remarks to reporters at the White House, Obama warned the Baghdad government that it had brought disaster on itself by failing to heal the divides between Sunni and Shiite camps in the country.

"The United States will not involve itself in military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance that they´re prepared to work together," he said.

"We won´t allow ourselves to be dragged back into a situation in which while we´re there we´re keeping a lid on things and, after enormous sacrifices by us, as soon as we´re not there, suddenly people end up acting in ways that are not conducive to the long-term stability of the country.

"The United States withdrew the last of its occupation forces from Iraq in 2011, eight years after they overthrew the then dictator Saddam Hussein, but Obama said he was studying options to increase ongoing support for the Iraqi military.

He added, however, that "any action that we may take to provide assistance to Iraqi security forces has to be joined by a serious and sincere effort by Iraq´s leaders to set aside sectarian differences.

"Nobody has an interest in seeing terrorists gain a foothold inside of Iraq and nobody is going to benefit from seeing Iraq descend into chaos," he said.
"So the United States will do our part, but understand that ultimately it´s up to the Iraqis as a sovereign nation to solve their problems."

Obama: US will help but Iraq must mend divisions

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama said Friday that he is examining options short of sending ground troops to help Iraq counter a extremist offensive, but warned the country must heal its own divisions.

"We will not be sending US troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraqi security forces," Obama said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki´s government has asked the United States to provide military assistance to counter a stunning advance by ISIL, an extremist movement.

But, in brief remarks to reporters at the White House, Obama warned the Baghdad government that it had brought disaster on itself by failing to heal the divides between Sunni and Shiite camps in the country.

"The United States will not involve itself in military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance that they´re prepared to work together," he said.

"We won´t allow ourselves to be dragged back into a situation in which while we´re there we´re keeping a lid on things and, after enormous sacrifices by us, as soon as we´re not there, suddenly people end up acting in ways that are not conducive to the long-term stability of the country.

"The United States withdrew the last of its occupation forces from Iraq in 2011, eight years after they overthrew the then dictator Saddam Hussein, but Obama said he was studying options to increase ongoing support for the Iraqi military.

He added, however, that "any action that we may take to provide assistance to Iraqi security forces has to be joined by a serious and sincere effort by Iraq´s leaders to set aside sectarian differences.

"Nobody has an interest in seeing terrorists gain a foothold inside of Iraq and nobody is going to benefit from seeing Iraq descend into chaos," he said.
"So the United States will do our part, but understand that ultimately it´s up to the Iraqis as a sovereign nation to solve their problems."

Iraq: militants overrun most of Mosul

BAGHDAD: In a stunning assault that exposed Iraq´s eroding central authority, al-Qaida-inspired militants overran much of Mosul on Tuesday, seizing government buildings, pushing out security forces and capturing military vehicles as thousands of residents fled the second-largest city.

The rampage by the black banner-waving insurgents was a heavy defeat for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as he tries to hold onto power, and highlighted the growing strength of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The group has been advancing in both Iraq and neighboring Syria, capturing territory in a campaign to set up a militant enclave straddling the border.

There were no immediate estimates on how many people were killed in the assault, a stark reminder of the reversals in Iraq since U.S. forces left in late 2011.

Earlier this year, Islamic State fighters took control of Fallujah, and government forces have been unable to take it back.

Mosul is a much bigger, more strategic prize. The city and surrounding Ninevah province, which is on the doorstep of Iraq´s relatively prosperous Kurdish region, are a major export route for Iraqi oil and a gateway to Syria.

"This isn´t Fallujah. This isn´t a place you can just cordon off and forget about," said Michael Knights, a regional security analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It´s essential to Iraq."

Al-Maliki pressed parliament to declare a state of emergency that would grant him greater powers, saying the public and government must unite "to confront this vicious attack, which will spare no Iraqi."

Legal experts said these powers could include imposing curfews, restricting public movements and censoring the media.

State TV said lawmakers would convene Thursday. Parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, from Mosul, called the rout "a disaster by any standard."

Regaining Mosul poses a daunting challenge for the prime minister. The city of about 1.4 million and many in the community are already deeply embittered against the government.

During the nearly nine-year American presence in the country, Mosul was a major stronghold for al-Qaida. U.S. and Iraqi forces carried out repeated offensives there, regaining a semblance of control but never routing the insurgents entirely.

"It´s going to be difficult to reconstitute the forces to clear and hold the city," Knights said. "There aren´t a lot of spare forces around Iraq."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest deplored what he called the "despicable" acts of violence against civilians in Mosul. He said Washington is committed to its partnership with Baghdad but is urging the government to take steps to be more inclusive of all Iraqis.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks across Iraq in recent days "that have killed and wounded scores of civilians." He urged all political leaders "to show national unity against the threats facing Iraq, which can only be addressed on the basis of the constitution and within the democratic political process," according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Insurgents and Iraqi troops have been fighting for days in Mosul, but the security forces´ hold appeared to collapse late Monday night and early Tuesday.

Gunmen overran the Ninevah provincial government building — a key symbol of state control — Monday evening, and the governor fled the city. The fighters stormed police stations, bases and prisons, capturing weapons and freeing inmates.

Security forces melted away, abandoning many of their posts, and militants seized large caches of weapons.

They took control of the city´s airport and captured helicopters, as well as an airbase 60 kilometers (40 miles) south of the city, the parliament speaker said.

Later Tuesday, Islamic State fighters took over the large town of Hawija, 125 kilometers (75 miles) south of Mosul, according to officials there.

On Tuesday, the militants appeared to hold much of the eastern half of Mosul, which is bisected by the Tigris River.

Residents said fighters were raising the black banners that are the emblem of the Islamic State.

Video taken from a car driving through the streets of Mosul and posted online showed burning vehicles in the streets, black-masked gunmen in pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns, and residents walking with suitcases.

ISIL supporters posted photos on social media showing fighters next to Humvees and other US-made military vehicles captured from Iraqi forces. (AP)

Bombings in Iraq kill 37

BAGHDAD: Bombings that included a suicide attack on tribal leaders in Baghdad hit central and southern Iraq Wednesday, killing at least 37 people, officials said.

They targeted three Baghdad neighbourhoods as well as Karbala and Basra provinces, south of the capital, the officials said.

In the Sadr City area of northern Baghdad, at least 15 people died and 34 were hurt when a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a tent where local tribal leaders were meeting.

A car bomb struck another northern area of Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding at least 24, while a roadside bomb in the capital´s east killed two people and wounded three.

North of Karbala city, a car bomb killed four people and wounded 13, while another one hit a market west of the southern port city of Basra, leaving at least three dead and seven wounded. (AFP)

US mulls air strikes as Iraq militants advance on Baghdad

KIRKUK: Militants have seized the Iraqi city of Tikrit as a jihadist offensive sweeps closer to Baghdad, prompting the UN Security Council to convene crisis talks Thursday while the US mulls air strikes on the rebels.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized the second city of Mosul on Tuesday and has since captured a large swathe of northern and north-central Iraq including Tikrit -- the hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein.

ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani promised the battle would "rage" on the capital Baghdad and Karbala, a city southwest of the capital that is considered one of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

The UN Security Council swiftly convened a meeting to discuss the crisis in a sign of growing international alarm at the fast-moving situation.

Diplomats said the closed consultations would begin at 11:30 am (1530 GMT) and will include a briefing by video link from the UN special representative to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov.

Washington is considering several options for offering military assistance to Baghdad, including drone strikes, a US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Resorting to such aircraft -- used in Afghanistan and Pakistan in a highly controversial programme -- would mark a dramatic shift in the US engagement in Iraq, after the last American troops pulled out in late 2011.State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US was committed to "working with the Iraqi government and leaders across Iraq to support a unified approach against ISIL´s continued aggression.

"But there is no current plan to send US troops back into Iraq, where around 4,500 American soldiers died in the bitter conflict.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Washington "strongly condemns" the ISIL attacks and "will stand with Iraqi leaders".

And UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the international community to unite behind Iraq, warning that "terrorism must not be allowed to succeed in undoing the path toward democracy in Iraq."

Checkpoint blasts kill 15 in northern Iraq: official

KIRKUK: A roadside bomb followed by a suicide bomber detonating an explosives-rigged truck at a police checkpoint in northern Iraq killed 15 people on Monday, a local official said.

The official, Shallal Abdul Baban, told the blasts in Tuz Khurmatu also wounded 115 people and caused "great destruction".

The police checkpoint that was targeted was near an office of President Jalal Talabani´s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party.

The blasts came a day after a car bomb followed by a suicide bombing near a PUK office and a Kurdish intelligence building in Jalawla, another northern town, killed 18 people.

Powerful extremists group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed the Jalawla attack in a statement posted on Twitter, and said it was carried out by two suicide bombers, one Egyptian and an Iraqi Kurd.

 

Bombs against Kurds, other attacks in Iraq kill 33

BAGHDAD: A double bombing tore through Kurdish political party offices in northern Iraq in the deadliest of a series of attacks nationwide that killed at least 33 people, officials said.

It was the second such assault in as many days. Nobody claimed responsibility for Monday´s attack.

But an al-Qaida splinter group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the previous double bombing Sunday against Kurdish offices in Jalula, northwest of Baghdad, killing 19 people.

The group said in an online statement that the bombings in Jalula were in response to the detention of Muslim women by authorities in the self-rule Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

Iraq is grappling with its worst surge in violence since the sectarian bloodletting of 2006 and 2007, when the country was pushed to the brink of civil war despite the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops.

The Americans withdrew at the end of 2011.Monday´s attack took place in the town of Tuz Khormato, about 200 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden truck into a checkpoint leading up to the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the nearby Kurdistan Communist Party.

Bombs against Kurds, other attacks in Iraq kill 33

BAGHDAD: A double bombing tore through Kurdish political party offices in northern Iraq in the deadliest of a series of attacks nationwide that killed at least 33 people, officials said.

It was the second such assault in as many days. Nobody claimed responsibility for Monday´s attack.

But an al-Qaida splinter group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the previous double bombing Sunday against Kurdish offices in Jalula, northwest of Baghdad, killing 19 people.

The group said in an online statement that the bombings in Jalula were in response to the detention of Muslim women by authorities in the self-rule Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

Iraq is grappling with its worst surge in violence since the sectarian bloodletting of 2006 and 2007, when the country was pushed to the brink of civil war despite the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops.

The Americans withdrew at the end of 2011.Monday´s attack took place in the town of Tuz Khormato, about 200 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden truck into a checkpoint leading up to the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the nearby Kurdistan Communist Party.

Militants seize Anbar University campus in Iraq: police

RAMADI: Jihadists took staff and students hostage on Saturday at a university campus in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, where security forces have been battling rebels for months, police said.

The militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, seized the Anbar University campus after killing its guards, they added.

Iraq attacks kill 20

BAGHDAD: A wave of attacks across Iraq, including twin car bombs in an ethnically mixed tinderbox city, killed 20 people Wednesday as a year-long surge of violence showed no signs of let-up.

Nearly 50 people were also wounded in the violence, which struck in and around Baghdad, as well as in Salaheddin and Kirkuk provinces to its north, all areas afflicted by near-daily bloodshed.

In the deadliest attack, two vehicles rigged with explosives went off in the centre of Kirkuk, killing eight people and leaving nine wounded, said provincial health chief Sabah Mohammed.

Kirkuk, an oil-rich ethnically diverse city, lies at the centre of a swathe of territory that Iraqi Kurdistan wants to incorporate into its three-province autonomous region over the objections of the central government in Baghdad.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Elsewhere in north Iraq, two people were killed when a suicide attacker set off a truck bomb in Suleiman Bek, while a corpse booby-trapped with explosives killed a policeman in nearby Tuz Khurmatu.

In the adjoining province of Salaheddin, two separate bombings left a policeman and a soldier dead.

In the capital, meanwhile, a car bomb killed four people in a shopping area of Saba Abkar, while a policeman was shot dead in district in the south.

On Baghdad´s northern outskirts, two policemen were killed by a roadside bomb. (AFP)

Iraq attacks kill 33 as 2014 death toll tops 4,000

BAGHDAD: Attacks across Iraq killed 33 people on Wednesday, the latest in a months-long surge in violence that has left more than 4,000 people dead this year.

The shootings and bombings struck in Baghdad and restive parts of the north and west, leaving dozens more wounded, security and medical officials said.

The protracted spike in bloodletting has fuelled fears that Iraq is slipping back into the all-out conflict that plagued it in 2006 and 2007, when a brutal sectarian war left tens of thousands dead.

In the deadliest attack, a suicide car bomb exploded in north Baghdad, killing at least 16 people and wounding 50 others, security and medical officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Elsewhere in and around the capital, six people were killed in multiple attacks, while three others died in the northern provinces of Kirkuk and Nineveh.

Also in north Iraq, a series of 11 bombings in the ethnically mixed town of Tuz Khurmatu killed five people, four of them members of the same family, and wounded 11.The blasts targeted homes belonging to ethnic Turkmen.

The town, which is also populated by Arabs and Kurds, lies in a stretch of territory that Kurdish leaders want to incorporate into their autonomous region over the objections of the central government.

Insurgents often exploit poor communication between Arab and Kurdish security forces to carry out attacks in the area.

19 dead in Iraq as pilgrims, family targeted: officials

SAMARRA: Militants have attacked a bus carrying pilgrims north of Baghdad, killing 11 people, while a family of eight was shot dead south of the capital, Iraqi officials said Sunday.

The bloodshed late Saturday comes during vote counting from the April 30 general election, the first since US troops withdrew in late 2011, and amid a protracted surge in nationwide unrest.

While officials are quick to blame external factors for the violence, analysts and diplomats say widespread anger among minority is also a key cause.

In the deadliest attack, a bombing and shooting targeting the bus of pilgrims killed 11 people and wounded 21, police and a doctor said.

The pilgrims were returning from Samarra north of the capital, when a roadside bomb blast on the outskirts of the town of Balad was followed by gunmen opening fire on the bus.

Also on Saturday evening, police found the bodies of eight family members shot dead inside their home in southeast of Baghdad.

It was unclear why the family had been targeted or who killed them. (AFP)

 

Iraq attacks kill 20 as security forces cast ballots

BAGHDAD: Deadly attacks on Monday, including a spate of suicide bombings, killed 20 soldiers and policemen as they cast their ballots ahead of Iraq´s first election since US troops withdrew.

The bombings in Baghdad and north and west Iraq raise serious concerns about the ability of the country´s security forces to protect voters during Wednesday´s general election, when more than 20 million Iraqis are eligible to vote.

They come amid a protracted surge in violence and fears the country is edging towards all-out conflict. Attackers wearing suicide belts hit polling centres in Baghdad and cities north of the capital, while roadside bombs struck military convoys and targeted journalists covering the polling.

At a voting centre in western Baghdad where six security members were killed, ambulances rushed to and fro, collecting the wounded, as soldiers cordoned off the street and ushered passersby away, an AFP journalist said.

Attacks elsewhere left 14 dead overall -- all members of the security forces -- officials said.In the main northern city of Mosul, meanwhile, six journalists were wounded as a bomb went off while they were travelling in a military vehicle to cover police and troops voting.

The blasts shattered an early morning calm, when soldiers and policemen had queued outside voting centres amid tight security across Baghdad and around the country as polls opened, leaving with the traditional purple ink-stained finger indicating they had voted.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, lambasted by critics for allegedly consolidating power and targeting minority groups amid a deterioration of security, is bidding for a third term in the polls with Iraqis frustrated over poor basic services, rampant corruption and high unemployment.

The month-long campaign has seen Baghdad and other cities plastered with posters and decked out in bunting, as candidates have taken to the streets, staged loud rallies and challenged each other in angry debates.