Iraqis are set to go to polls on April 30 amid bomb attacks carried out by al-Qaeda-linked militants to disrupt the elections. Most Iraqis will have to vote on Wednesday, but the security forces will cast their ballots two days earlier in order to be free to guard polling stations on the election day. Iraqi residents in Iran head to the polls on Sunday. Many believe the security situation in Iraq will aggravate in the run-up to the general elections, the first of such polls in the country since the US withdrawal in late 2011. Militant attacks have been targeting candidates, election workers and political rallies over the past several days. Scores of people have died in bomb attacks related to the elections in the past few weeks. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq. Maliki says Riyadh and Doha have been trying to wreak havoc by sending Takfiri militants into Iraq. In December 2013, the Iraqi army removed an anti-government protest camp in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province. The move triggered increasing bomb attacks in the country. Iraqi troops, backed by local tribesmen, have since been fighting al-Qaeda-affiliated militants. Among the militant groups is the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), notorious for its atrocities in neighboring Syria.
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