Roadside bomb kills five amid Iraq early voting

BAGHDAD, March 4 (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed five civilians as Iraqi security forces, prison inmates and the infirm took part on Thursday in early voting ahead of the country's national election on March 7.

The blast in the Hurriya neighbourhood in northwestern Baghdad, near a voting centre that will be used in Sunday's polls, also wounded 22 people, a source at the Interior Ministry said on condition of anonymity.

Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq, but insurgents continue to stage devastating attacks. Suicide blasts killed 33 people in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, on Wednesday.