BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Iraqis embraced democracy in large numbers yesterday, standing in long lines to vote in defiance of mortar attacks, suicide bombers and boycott calls. Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if they couldn’t walk, the elderly, the young and women in veils cast ballots in Iraq’s first free election in a half-century.

“We broke a barrier of fear,” said one election official, Mijm Towirish.

Uncertain Sunni turnout, a string of insurgent attacks that killed 44 and the crash of a British military plane made clear that Iraq’s chaos isn’t over yet.

Yet the mere fact the vote went off seemed to ricochet instantly around a world hoping for Arab democracy, and fearing Islamic extremism.

“I am doing this because I love my country and I love the sons of my nation,” said Shamal Hekeib, 53, who walked with his wife 20 minutes to a polling station near his Baghdad home.

“We are Arabs, we are not scared and we are not cowards,” Hekeib said.

Iraqi election officials said it might take 10 days to determine the vote’s winner, and said they had no firm estimate of turnout among the 14 million eligible voters. The main Shiite cleric-endorsed ticket had been expected to draw the most votes, although interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s slate could get significant support.

President George W Bush called the election a success and promised the United States would continue training Iraqi soldiers, hoping they can soon secure a country America invaded nearly two years ago to topple Saddam Hussein.

Iraqis, the US president said, had “firmly rejected the anti-democratic ideology” of terrorists.

But the vote to elect a 275-National Assembly and 18 provincial legislatures was only the first step on Iraq’s road to self-rule and stability. Once results are in, it could take weeks of backroom deals before a prime minister and government are picked by the new assembly.

If that government proves successful by drawing in the minority Sunni Arabs who partly shunned the election, the country could stabilise, hastening the day when 150,000 US troops can go home.

Yesterday, those soldiers raced through Baghdad’s streets in Humvees and tried to coax people to vote with loudspeakers in Ramadi. Iraqi police served mainly as guards at polling stations, while many US troops had strict orders to stay away from polling sites unless Iraqi security forces called for help.

At the Louisiana National Guard headquarters near Baghdad, nervous US officers paced the halls, muttering, “So far, so good,” after the first 30 minutes of polling passed without attacks.

But the violence soon broke out.

While a driving ban seemed to discourage car bombs, the insurgents improvised: Several used belts of explosives to launch their suicide missions.

At least 44 died in the suicide and mortar attacks on polling stations, including nine suicide bombers. The al-Qaida affiliate led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for at least four attacks.

Most attacks were in Baghdad, but one of the deadliest came in Hillah to the south, when a bomber got on to a minibus carrying voters and detonated his explosives, killing himself and at least four others.

Despite the string of attacks and mortars that boomed first in the morning and then after dark, a people steeled to violence by years of war, sanctions and military occupation were not deterred from the polls.