Vote count begins in Iraq election

Election officials in Iraq have begun counting the votes following the country's second full parliamentary election since the 2003 US-led invasion. Authorities imposed a curfew in the capital, Baghdad, after the polls closed on Sunday to ensure the safe transportation of the ballots from election centres to the election commission's main counting offices. Millions of people turned out to cast their ballots across the country, choosing from more than 6,000 candidates from 86 political groups looking to gain seats in the 325-member assembly. But the vote was marred by violence as a series of explosions left at least 38 people dead and 89 others wounded in the capital. The bloodiest toll was from an explosion that destroyed a residential building in the Shaab district of northern Baghdad, killing 25 people and wounding at least eight more. Initial reports indicated that dynamite was used to blow up the building, the interior ministry official said.