Police report attack on Iraqi polling station in Sweden

Police on Thursday issued an alert to Iraqi polling stations in Sweden after an arson attempt in a Stockholm suburb where Iraqis were voting in parliamentary elections. Bottles filled with gasoline were thrown at a polling station in Kista just north of the capital early Thursday but did not catch fire, police spokesman Fredrik Lindfors said. There were no injuries, and police had no suspects.

"We have alerted other police districts. This kind of attack can occur anywhere in the country," Lindfors said. Voters in Iraq and abroad are electing the 275-member National Assembly, which will rule the country over the next four years. Some 7,000 candidates are representing more than 200 political parties.

Sweden, with a large immigrant population, has more than 70,000 Iraqis living in the country of whom 40,000 are Iraqi citizens. They are voting in the capital, Stockholm, and Goteborg in southwestern Sweden, reports the AP. I.L.