Twin car blasts welcome new Iraq president; 21 killed

BAGHDAD: Iraqi officials say a double car bombing in central Baghdad has killed 21 people and wounded 33, hours after lawmakers elected the country’s new president.
Police officials say the bombs went off minutes apart on Thursday near a restaurant in central Baghdad’s busy commercial Karradah neighborhood as people were gathering to break their daily fast for the holy month of Ramadan.
Dark smoke billowed over Baghdad at dusk as ambulances ferried victims from the site.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.
Earlier in the day, Iraqi lawmakers elected veteran Kurdish politician Fouad Massoum as the nation’s new president, as they struggle to form a new government amid the militant blitz that has engulfed much of northern and western Iraq.