Updated at 10:52 p.m EDT, Mar. 16, 2010
At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 19 more were wounded in various attacks. The worst one took place just south of Baghdad. Meanwhile, former P.M. Ayad Allawi’s political bloc took the lead in the vote count today.
A candidate from P.M. Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law bloc said the prime minister has complained to the electoral commission about vote manipulation and asked for a recount. Fraud accusations have been lobbed before, mostly by the opposition Iraqiya bloc, but now Iraqiya has pulled slightly ahead in total vote count. State of Law still leads province-by-province, which is the more crucial count. Independent and international observers have found no evidence of widespread fraud.
P.M. Maliki is the focus of an assassination rumor. Last week, he underwent an undisclosed medical procedure that many believe was due to having been shot.
A pair of bombs, each one affixed to a bus, exploded in Mussayab, killing eight people and wounding 11 others.
In Baghdad, a bomb that exploded near Mustansiriya University wounded three policemen. Two people were wounded by a blast in Karrada. A blast wounded three people in a southern neighborhood.
In Mosul, gunmen killed a woman and her daughter in Tal al-Rumman. A policeman was killed in a separate shooting. Six suspects were captured. A gunman using a silencer killed a soldier.
The body of a policeman was discovered in Shurqat. The man had been missing
Gunmen kidnapped a five-year-old boy in Kirkuk.
In Garma, gunmen blew up a policeman’s home, but no casualties were reported.
No casualties were reported in Zab after a bomb blasted a convoy carrying a local Sahwa commander.
Two suspects were arrested in Tal Afar.
