Militants have seized the Iraqi city of Tikrit as a jihadist offensive sweeps closer to Baghdad, prompting the UN Security Council to convene crisis talks Thursday while the US mulls air strikes on the rebels.
A bomb near a polling station in north Iraq killed two women on Wednesday, officials said, as voters cast their ballots under tight security following a surge of pre-election violence.
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, seeking re-election in parliamentary polls being held on Wednesday, told reporters his bloc's "victory is certain" after casting his ballot in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone.
Iraqis on Wednesday vote in the first parliamentary election since US troops left in 2011, and as the country experiences a protracted surge in violence.
With fears that women's rights are being eroded in Iraq, prospective female lawmakers are determined to push women's issues to the fore of campaigning for this month's elections.
A powerful jihadist group inspired by Al-Qaeda has opened a new battlefront with Iraqi security forces that could see it try to push into Baghdad, officials and analysts warn.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between Khorramshahr Chamber of Commerce officials and Iraqˈs Basra provincial officials to remove the existing problems facing Iranian and Iraqi businessmen.
Gunmen held crucial territory on Baghdad's doorstep Saturday despite tribesmen and police retaking militant-held areas west of the capital, as the UN Security Council backed Iraq's efforts against Al-Qaeda-linked extremists.