Nine die in Iraq bombings

BAGHDAD: Bombings in Iraq, including one against an MP's convoy, killed nine people and wounded 32 yesterday, just days ahead of the country's first elections since US troops departed, officials said.
In one attack, gunmen in two SUVs opened fire early in the morning on a military checkpoint in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib, killing two soldiers and wounding five, a police officer said. Another police officer said a parked car bomb went off shortly afterward in another part of Abu Ghraib, killing two civilians and wounding six people.
Around noon, a parked car bomb exploded in a commercial area in Baghdad's western neighborhood of Jihad, killing three civilians and wounding 12. In a Baghdad southeastern suburb, a lawmaker escaped an assassination attempt when a roadside bomb hit his convoy. Three of his guards were wounded.
In the western Anbar province, police said a sticky bomb attached to a car exploded in a parking lot near the main Sunni protest area on a highway near the provincial capital, Ramadi, killing two people and wounding six others.
Members of Iraq's minority have been staging weekly rallies to protest perceived second class treatment by the government. Medical officials confirmed the causalities in Wednesday's attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. An estimated 13.5 million Iraqis are eligible to vote for more than 8,000 candidates standing in Saturday's provincial elections, with 378 seats being contested.
Iraqi forces are solely responsible for polling security, the first time they have been in charge without support from American or other international forces during elections since dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.
US forces eventually withdrew from Iraq in December 2011. The elections are to be held amid a spike in violence. Attacks have killed more than 200 people each month so far this year, compared to tolls well below that figure for the last three months of 2012, according to AFP figures.
While violence has fallen significantly from the height of Iraq's sectarian war, the country still faces significant security challenges, mainly from militants linked to Al-Qaeda who carry out attacks in a bid to undermine confidence in the government.