Iraqi authorities tallied millions of ballots today from elections to choose a parliament as complaints grew surrounding the conduct of the poll.
Officials said it could take at least two weeks until final results are announced for the parliament, which will serve a four-year term.
Although violence was low on election day, police said four mortars landed in parts of central Baghdad today - three targeting the Interior Ministry. The sound of several explosions could be heard in the city.
Police said five bodies, four in Interior Ministry commando uniforms, were found in the predominantly Shia north Baghdad suburb of Kazimiyah. The fifth had been decapitated and was dressed in an Iraqi army uniform.
The election commission did not provide any results or a figure for how many of Iraq's 15 million voters cast ballots. Officials have estimated that up to 11 million took part, which would put overall turnout at more than 70 per cent.
Preliminary results could be released in less than one week, but a large number of complaints are expected and they will have to be investigated. That investigation could delay the final results by up to two weeks.
The election commission said it had already received 178 complaints, and a spokesman said 35 of them were about "violent interference" from the police, army or election workers.
Most of the rest, 101, were related to campaigning violations such as using religious symbols in campaign ads. "Until now, we have not received any complaints about fraud," he added.
Western officials in the Iraqi capital said they had heard reports of numerous voting irregularities in the north and south, most of them dealing with intimidation.
There were no immediate details, but they were believed to have been more than in the October 15th referendum and January 30th elections.
Sunni Arabs went out in large numbers to vote yesterday. Many of them boycotted the landmark January 30th general elections to protest the US-led presence. This left them with only 17 seats in parliament.
There were early indications that Shia tickets did well in southern areas where the religious group is dominant, and that turnout in provinces such as Najaf was as high as 80 per cent. Shias make up 60 per cent of Iraq's 27 million people, compared to about 20 per cent for Sunni Arabs.
Many groups were releasing what they described as preliminary results, none of which could be independently confirmed. They had released similar figures after the January 30th elections, many of which later turned out to be inaccurate.