http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/ap/20050130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_the_voteBAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis defied violence and calls for a boycott to cast ballots in Iraq (news - web sites)'s first free election in a half-century Sunday. Insurgents seeking to wreck the vote struck polling stations with a string of suicide bombings and mortar volleys, killing at least 44 people, including nine attackers.
Women in black abayas whispered prayers at the sound of a nearby explosion as they waited to vote at one Baghdad polling station. But the mood for many was upbeat:
Civilians and policemen danced with joy at one of the five polling stations where photographers were allowed, and some streets were packed with voters walking shoulder-to-shoulder to vote. The elderly made their way, hobbling on canes or riding wheelchairs; one elderly woman was pushed along on a wooden cart, another man carried a disabled 80-year-old on his back.