Polling stations attacked as Iraq election starts

A bomb near a polling station in north Iraq killed two women early on Wednesday as voting in the country's election gets underway, according to officials, but a deterioration in the security situation is not expected to deter the vast majority of voters.

Elsewhere, militants seized another polling station in north Iraq, evacuated election staff and voters and set off explosives, destroying the building, according to a security official and an election commission employee.

Instability has been high in the run up to today’s vote, the first since the US withdrew its troops in 2011 following the 2003 invasion.

On Monday, 64 people, including almost two dozen security personnel, were reportedly killed in violence across the country of some 33 million. A further 24 were killed on Tuesday, with more than 100 people injured so far.

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