Two bombs killed 42 people and wounded 65 others in Iraq's mainly Sunni Diyala province today, underscoring tensions just before the release of full preliminary results from the March 7th parliamentary election.
A car bomb and a roadside bomb exploded in the town of Khalis, about 80km north of Baghdad, police said.
Iraq's Independent High Electoral Council (IHEC) was to release results of a count of all the votes later today, 19 days after an election Iraqis hoped would stabilise their nation after years of sectarian warfare.
The tensions foreshadowed potentially divisive talks to form the next government.
Violence exploded when politicians took more than five months to agree a government after the last parliamentary vote in 2005 and tens of thousands of people were killed.
An election official said the top two blocs, prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law and the cross-sectarian Iraqiya coalition led by secularist former prime minister Iyad Allawi were expected to be one or two seats apart.
Foreign diplomats and analysts have expressed concern about the possibility of renewed violence if the losing parties do not accept the results. Violence has dropped dramatically in the last two years but attacks by Sunni insurgents occur daily.
Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad's security spokesman, said earlier that security forces were not imposing a curfew but would be ready for any signs of trouble as the vote results were released.
Reuters