Updated at 8:15 p.m. EST, March 5, 2010
On the last day of legal campaigning, no significant violence took place; however, at least one Iraq child was killed and nine more were wounded in minor attacks. Clerics used the prayer day to urge Iraqis to vote. In the U.K., British Prime Minister Gordon Brown testified at an inquiry, saying the war in Iraq was justified but the United States failed to head warnings over post-war chaos.
In election news, Iraqis who live abroad begin voting in national elections. Polling stations are now accepting voters in places in neighboring Jordan and Syria, but also as far away as the U.S. and Australia. Sunnis in particular are coming out in droves despite any previous belief in vote rigging. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed the interior and defense ministries for not including thousands of security personnel in the electoral records. Several Iraqi diplomats in Iran were also unable to cast votes.
In Mosul, the Iraqi army denied staging a joint raid involving Kurdish secret service on a Yazidi movement office. The deputy head of the Ninewa council earlier said that a number of the party’s members were detained then released in what appeared to be an unauthorized operation.
Seven civilians were injured when gunmen opened fire on them in Kirkuk.
A roadside bomb planted near a polling station in Mussayab exploded, killing a child.
Two policemen were wounded in Saqlawiya when a roadside bomb exploded.
Gunmen blew up a school serving as a polling station in the village of Ashoukani. No casulaties were reported.
In Baghdad, three security guards were arrested in the Green Zone for firing celebratory shots with their light weapons; the same source said that rumors of an attack on a polling station and defense minister’s house are baseless. Baghdad will be under a curfew for election day.
Ten suspects were arrested in Basra province.
Three gunmen were detained in Suleimaniyah after they opened fire on a convoy carrying election materials.
