BAGHDAD: A dozen small bombs exploded and mortar rounds landed near polling centers in Iraq yesterday, wounding at least four people during voting in the country’s first provincial elections since the departure of US troops.

Two mortar rounds injured three voters and a policeman at a school used as a voting center in Latifiya, south of Baghdad, soon after the start of the election that will measure parties’ political strength before parliamentary elections in 2014.

Bombs exploded in the northern towns of Tuz Khurmato, Tikrit and Samarra and six mortar rounds also landed in a town near the southern city of Hilla, without causing any injuries, police said. Security was tight across Iraq with more than 8,000 hopefuls running for nearly 450 seats on provincial councils which select local governors. More than a dozen candidates, mostly Sunnis, were killed during campaigning.

Turnout at polling stations in Baghdad, and cities such as Basra, Tikrit and Baquba appeared light, according to Reuters reporters. In Baghdad, mostly empty after the government imposed a vehicle curfew, young men played football along a main road on the banks of the River Tigris. Many voters appeared caught between apathy and resignation about how much the local ballot would change their lives.

“People are not patient, they were not ready for how quickly we came to democracy. They thought everything would change in one election. We still need time, maybe we need three or four more elections,” said Ahmed Abdel Hameed, voting in Baghdad.

Most Iraqis are frustrated with insecurity, unemployment, rife corruption and the lack of basic services a decade after the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein and helped trigger sectarian bloodshed that killed tens of thousands in 2006-2007.