25 killed as Iraq heads to the polls

About 19 million Iraqis are eligible to vote after US forces pull out, in an election that many hope will serve to heal the bloody sectarian wounds that were ripped open by the US-led invasion.

Some 6,200 candidates are competing for 325 seats in the new parliament.

Militants who vowed to disrupt the elections - which they see as validating the Shi'ite-led government and the ongoing US occupation - launched a spate of attacks as polls opened across the city and country.

At least 14 people died in north-eastern Baghdad after an explosion levelled a building and mortar attacks in western Baghdad killed seven people in two different neighborhoods.

In Baghdad's north-east Hurriyah neighbourhood, where mosque loudspeakers exhorted people to vote as "arrows to the enemies' chest," three people were killed when someone threw a hand grenade at a crowd heading to the polls.

In Mahmoudiya, a bomb inside a polling centre killed a policeman.

Guerillas also launched mortars at the Green Zone - home to the US embassy and the prime minister's office - and in Azamiyah police reported at least 20 mortar attacks in the neighbourhood since daybreak.

The US, which has lost more than 4,300 troops in the nearly seven-year conflict, has around 100,000 troops in the country - a number that is expected to drop to about 50,000 by the end of the summer.