"There's more distance to travel on the road to democracy," Bush said Sunday, four hours after the polls closed. "Yet Iraqis are proving they're equal to the challenge."

The president mentioned that some were killed while voting, but he focused his brief remarks on the success for Iraq and its citizens. He told of one voter who lost a leg in a terrorist attack last year but still made it to the polls to vote for peace.

"The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East," Bush said. "In great numbers, and under great risk, Iraqis have shown their commitment to democracy."

He called the leaders of three key U.S. allies in the Middle East - King Abdullah of Jordan, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt - Sunday afternoon to talk about building on the Iraqi election and to support democracy among the Palestinians.

Insurgents in Iraq struck polling stations with a string of suicide bombings and mortar volleys, killing more than 40 people, including nine suicide bombers. Bush also said he mourned the loss of U.S. and British forces on election day, including troops killed when a British military transport plane crashed.

"Terrorists and insurgents will continue to wage their war against democracy, and we will support the Iraqi people in their fight against them," Bush said. "We will continue training Iraqi security forces so this rising democracy can eventually take responsibility for its own security."

Bush did not take questions from reporters or mention any military withdrawal.

In a statement, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass, said Bush "must look beyond the election" and start bringing troops home.

"The best way to demonstrate to the Iraqi people that we have no long-term designs on their country is for the administration to withdraw some troops now" and negotiate further withdrawals, Kennedy added.

Earlier Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would not say whether U.S. forces will leave the country in great numbers after the vote. She said the United States will discuss the continued need for outside security forces with the newly elected Iraqi government.

So far, more than 1,400 U.S. troops and many thousands of Iraqis have lost their lives. The United States is spending more than $1 billion a week in Iraq.

Rice said the election went better than expected, but did not elaborate on U.S. predictions for turnout, violence or other measures.

In Iraq, officials said turnout among the 14 million eligible voters appeared higher than the 57 percent they had predicted. Complete voting results are not expected for days.

Polls were largely deserted all day in many cities of the Sunni Triangle. In Baghdad's mainly Sunni Arab area of Azamiyah, the neighborhood's four polling centers did not open at all, residents said.

"It is hard to say that something is legitimate when whole portions of the country can't vote and doesn't vote," Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Bush's re-election challenger in November, said on NBC's "Meet The Press."

Even with lower turnout among Sunni Arabs, the government can be representative of all Iraqis, Rice said. She also minimized concerns that a Shiite-dominated government will morph into a theocracy.

"I'm sure that they will have a healthy debate about the role of Islam, about the role of religion in that society," Rice said on CNN's "Late Edition."

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