Iraq elects new president as violence continues

World Today

A double car bombing killed 21 people and wounded 33 in central Baghdad, just hours after lawmakers elected senior Kurdish politician Fouad Massoum as president. CCTV’s Jack Barton has more.

Iraq elects new president as bomb explosion kills dozens

A double car bombing has killed 21 people and wounded 33 in central Baghdad. This happened just hours after lawmakers elected Kurdish politician Fouad Massoum as the new president. CCTV's Jack Barton has more.

Iraq’s lawmakers elected Massoum to replace Jalal Talabani as the country’s next president in the latest step toward forming a new government. But a series of attacks killed dozens of people and Islamic extremists destroyed a Muslim shrine traditionally said to be the burial place of the Prophet Jonah.

The mosque was built on an archaeological site dating back to the 8th century B.C. and is said to be the burial place of the prophet, who in stories from both the Bible and Quran was swallowed by a whale. It was renovated in the 1990’s under Iraq’s late dictator Saddam Hussein and remained a popular destination for religious pilgrims from around the world until the June militant blitz.

The 76-year-old president-elect, one of the founders of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party led by the previous president, accepted the position after winning two-thirds of the votes in parliament.

Iraq is going through a massive offensive launched by al-Qaida splinter group “Islamic State,” which has captured large parts of land in the country’s west and north, including Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul and killed hundreds of people.

In Baghdad a double car bombing ripped through the busy commercial district of Karradah as people gathered after the sunset to break their daily fast for the holy month of Ramadan. Twenty-one people were killed and 33 wounded.