Voting in Iraq's first national election since the ousting of Saddam Hussein has officially ended.
The country's Electoral Commission said the turnout is estimated at 72%, a far higher figure than most expected. In many Shi'ite areas, the voting was put at 90%.
However, there are reports that there has been a very low turnout in central Sunni cities, such as Fallujah, Samarra and Ramadi. Official figures will be confirmed later.
The United Nations has been monitoring the election and spokesman Ashraf Quazi confirmed that the turnout appeared to be better than expected.
Fourteen million Iraqis were registered to vote in the election.
Large numbers of US and Iraqi troops were deployed to protect voters choosing a national assembly that will write a new constitution for Iraq.
Wave of attacks
Despite unprecedented security measures, insurgents who declared war on the election carried out a wave of attacks on polling stations.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry said that 30 civilians and six policemen were killed.
There were nine suicide bombings in the capital, Baghdad. In one such attack, a bomber blew himself up in a queue outside a polling station, killing at least six people.
Six other suicide bombers walked up to polling stations on foot. Earlier, a suicide car bomb killed a policeman outside one polling station.
In central Basra, there was an explosion at a school being used as a polling station. Explosions were also heard in Baquba and Mosul.
In the northern Iraqi town of Balad, police said a woman and a child were killed in a mortar attack on a voting station.
A statement on the Internet, said to be from the group linked to al-Qaeda and led by militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed several of the suicide attacks.
Al-Yawar one of first to vote
Iraq's interim president Ghazi al-Yawar was one of the first people to vote.
He cast his ballot in a special VIP polling station guarded by the US military and private security inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, home to the US embassy and the Iraqi government.
Mr al-Yawar said he hoped all Iraqis would follow his lead and go to the polls.
Assembly
Iraq's election was held to choose a national assembly intended to pave the way to a permanent government.
The assembly of 275 members will select a president and two deputies who will then choose a prime minister and transitional government.
The assembly's main task will be to draw up a new constitution, which has to be approved in a referendum later this year.
This document will form the basis for full elections in December, leading to a fully constitutional government.
However, another major issue will be the future of the US and other foreign troops in Iraq.
