BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq is on the watch for unrest in the flash-point Sunni Arab region of Anbar province when the results of the country's provincial elections are released Thursday.

Tensions are high in Anbar, where some tribal leaders affiliated with the U.S.-backed "awakening" movement have threatened violence if they lose to their rival -- the older and more entrenched group called the Iraqi Islamic Party, which some accuse of election fraud.

The Iraqi army commander in Anbar said on Thursday that troops have been deployed to areas where there is potential for trouble after the results are announced. The military said a security plan is in place and force will be used if necessary.

About 7.5 million of Iraq's nearly 15 million registered voters cast ballots in Iraq's provincial elections last weekend, Iraq's election commission said. Voting was held in 14 of the country's 18 provinces.

More than 14,000 candidates competed for 440 seats in provincial councils, which run the regional governments across the country.

A vote is expected in May across the three Kurdish provinces, but polling in Tameem province has been delayed because of political disputes in the diverse and oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

The results are seen as a test of how well Iraq's fledgling democracy will handle election transitions and a gauge of how the parliamentary elections may shape up later this year.

They are expected to spell out the popularity of the secularist groups, such as those led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, and various Shiite factions such as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his Dawa Party, the powerful Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's political movement, and the Fadhila Party in the south.

But the Anbar results and the showing of Sunni Arabs across the country are drawing more attention and have prompted the central government and the military to be on the alert.

The turnout in the sprawling desert region of Anbar and other Sunni regions was in stark contrast to provincial elections held in 2005, when militant violence and dislike of the Shiite-dominated, post-Saddam Hussein political system kept Sunni voters away from the polls.

About 40 percent turned out in Anbar this year, compared to about 2 percent four years ago. Sunni Arabs who stayed away from the polls throughout the country four years ago eagerly turned out for this vote.

But there has been animosity in Anbar between the U.S.-backed awakening groups, largely made up of former insurgents, and their rival, the Iraq Islamic Party, or IIP.

The awakening groups fought al Qaeda in Iraq, the anti-American Sunni militant group, and the United States credits the awakening as a key factor in fostering security gains and a drop in violence.

The IIP, led by Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, has dominated Anbar's provincial council for the past four years. Earlier this week, it claimed victory in Anbar.

Tribal sheikhs have accused election employees affiliated with the IIP of stuffing ballot boxes after polls were closed. The powerful awakening leader Ahmed Abu Reesha said up to 100,000 votes have been added fraudulently in the IIP's favor.

The allegation prompted some tribal leaders to threaten violence, a threat criticized by the IIP.

Al-Maliki this week sent a top-level delegation to meet with awakening leaders and the province's governor, a member of the IIP. The group was headed by Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Rafe' al-Issawi and military commanders, including the head of Iraq's ground forces. Anbar is the only Sunni Arab province where the U.S. military has transferred power to Iraqis.

In Baghdad on Thursday, one of the 4,000 female candidates who ran in the elections was fired on but escaped unharmed, an Interior Ministry official said.

Khadija Ouwayyed, a candidate from the Constitutional Party, was driving in the Shiite enclave of Abu Dsheer in southern Baghdad when gunmen in a car opened fire on her car.

The Constitutional Party is the newly formed party of Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani and is secularist-oriented.

At least five candidates were killed before Election Day. The sister-in-law of a female IIP candidate was also killed before the elections. The candidate's party believed she was the intended target of the attack.

There was other violence in Iraq on Thursday. A suicide bomber killed at least 14 people in the Kurdish town of Khanaqin in northern Iraq.

Located in Diyala province, Khanaqin has rippled with tension. The town is coveted by Iraq's autonomous Kurdish Regional Government, which wants to make Khanaqin part of its territory. Such a move is currently opposed by the central government.

There was a standoff there last summer between Iraqi troops and Kurdish security forces, and there were Election Day logistical mixups there on Saturday that stoked tension.

A roadside bomb exploded in central Baghdad, and Deputy Minister of Education Nihad al-Jubouri escaped unharmed, the Interior Ministry official said. One civilian was wounded. Last week, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Higher Education escaped an attack on his convoy in Baghdad.

In a village near Khalis in Diyala province, six decapitated bodies were found on Wednesday, the official said.

Also Thursday, the U.S. military confirmed that a child and the child's uncle were killed when a U.S. armored vehicle struck a truck earlier this week in the northern city of Mosul, an incident described as an accident.

The U.S. vehicle was part of a convoy responding to an attack on a joint coalition-Iraqi patrol. There were unconfirmed reports that at least six local citizens were hurt by shrapnel during or after the incident, said Maj. Derrick Cheng, a spokesman for Multi National Division-North.

When troops left the scene, their vehicle struck a pickup truck carrying a family, killing a child and an adult, police said.

Mosul and the surrounding Nineveh province have an al Qaeda in Iraq presence, and troops have been targeting militants there for months.

By Jomana Karadsheh