Early voting begins in Iraq; nine killed
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-12 20:31

The unsigned statement, distributed in the Sunni stronghold of Azamiyah, was written in a linguistic style used by Islamic extremists.

The statement said Sunnis could use the elections to battle corruption and make some political gains but that "fighting will continue with the infidels and their followers."

An empty minibus loaded with explosives blew up Monday near the Kindi hospital in east Baghdad, killing three civilians and injuring 13, including five police officers, authorities said. Police Lt. Mohammed Khayoun said the van's driver abandoned it and ran.

A U.S. soldier was killed Monday in a bombing in Baghdad and another American soldier attached to the Marines died the day before in a suicide bombing west of the capital, near the city of Ramadi, the U.S. command said. The deaths brought to at least 2,144 the number of U.S. military members killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Police also said a businessman and his 23-year-old son were kidnapped in Baghdad's upscale Mansour district.

Monday's early voting saw the first of 1,500 patients cast ballots at Baghdad's central Yarmouk hospital, election officials said.

"The election process is running very well," said Yousif Ibrahim, director of the election center. "There is a big hall for patients who can easily walk and the election committee moves a box around to the wards where there are patients who can't leave their beds."

It was not be the only early voting ahead of general elections.

On Tuesday, the estimated 1.5 million Iraqi voters living outside the country can begin casting their ballots at polling centers in 15 countries. That voting also ends Thursday.

Suspected insurgents held in U.S. or Iraqi detention but who have not been convicted of an offense, are eligible to vote, Iraqi officials said. Saddam — who is jailed and facing trial for the deaths of more than 140 Shiites in 1982 — also has the right to vote but it was not known whether he would.

Thousands of Iraqi forces will be protecting polling stations, with U.S. and other coalition troops ready to help in case of a major attack.

Most attention has focused on Sunni Arabs, who largely boycotted the Jan. 30 election to protest the continued U.S. military presence. That enabled the Shiites and Kurds to dominate parliament, a move that sharpened communal tensions and fueled the Sunni-dominated insurgency.