BAGHDAD, Jan. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- A suicide car bombing and a series of blasts rocked Iraq's capital Baghdad and other major cities Sunday as voters began to cast ballots in the elections for a transitional parliament amid heavy security.

A suicide car bombing and a series of blasts rocked Iraq's capital Baghdad and other major cities Sunday as voters began to cast ballots in the elections for a transitional parliament amid heavy security. £¨Xinhua/AFP£©

    A suicide car bomber hit a polling station in western Baghdad Sunday morning shortly after the voting began, killing a policeman and injuring four others, including two Iraqi soldiers and two civilians.

    The attack occurred at a checkpoint outside Zahraa School, being used as a voting center, police said.

    A string of explosions were heard in the center of the capital after the bombing. The nature of the blasts and whether they caused casualties were unknown.

    In Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City, a mortar struck a voting center, killing four voters and wounding seven others, police said.

    In the southern city of Basra, a mortar shell landed near a polling station but there were no reports of casualties.

A suicide car bomber hit a polling station in western Baghdad Sunday morning shortly after the beginning of the landmark elections, killing a policeman. (Photo: Xinhua/Reuters)

    A wave of blasts also jolted the religiously mixed city of Baqouba, about 50 km northeast of Baghdad, within the first two hours of the election. The blasts were believed to be mortar fire in different parts of the city.

    Baqouba has a mixed Sunni Arab, Shiite and Kurdish population and has been an insurgency hotspot.

    In another previous insurgent stronghold, Fallujah, the streets were deserted except for US troops and Iraqi security forces. Five polling centers were open in the town, but so far no voters have turned up.

    The polls opened on a chilly, dark morning at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) and were due to stay open until 5 p.m. (1400 GMT). An estimated 100,000 policemen and soldiers were deployed across the country and traffic restrictions were imposed in many cities to ensure a smooth process.

    Iraqis will elect a 275-seat National Assembly, which will in turn choose a transitional government and draft a permanent constitution to pave the way for a new government and a new parliament to be elected by the end of this year.

    Iraqi officials hope for a turnout of at least 50 percent to lend legitimacy to the results. But many Iraqis, intimidated by insurgent groups which vowed to turn the election into a bloodbath, may keep away from polling stations for fear of life. Enditem