Bomb and rocket attacks killed at least 38 people as Iraqis voted in a parliamentary election.
Blasts rumbled across Baghdad and other cities as scores of mortar rounds, rockets and roadside bombs exploded near polling stations.
Polls have closed ending 10 hours of balloting in which 19 million people were eligible to take part. It could take three days to get results.
Iraq's political course will be decisive for President Barack Obama's plans to halve US troop levels over the next five months and withdraw entirely by end-2011 and was watched closely by oil companies planning to invest billions in Iraq.
In the deadliest incident, 25 people were killed when an explosion blew up a three-storey Baghdad apartment block.
Four people were killed in a similar explosion at another residential building and nine others were killed in rocket, mortar and roadside bomb attacks.
Despite the violence, the US military said insurgents had ‘fallen short’ in attempts to intimidate voters.
Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission said only two polling stations had to be closed briefly for security reasons.
Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari described the attacks as
largely random mortar fire meant to frighten people.
Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, the Baghdad security spokesman, said most rockets and mortar bombs had been fired from mainly Sunni districts. Officials lifted a car ban aimed at foiling vehicle bombs less than four hours into the vote.
