Rockets hit Baghdad’s Green Zone as parliament prepared to meet

Rockets have landed near the Iraqi capital’s Green Zone, home to government buildings and foreign missions, according to a military statement, as a controversial parliament session was about to begin to elect the country’s new president.

Several civilians and members of the security forces were wounded in Thursday’s attack, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed reported from Baghdad.Abdelwahed said preliminary information suggests at least nine rockets landed in and around the fortified area as the parliament was about to begin its session, which has been boycotted by members of parliament affiliated with powerful Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr.

In a similar incident, rockets hit the Green Zone last week as the parliament was about to vote for the deputy speaker of parliament.The country has witnessed months of political deadlock after al-Sadr last year emerged as the biggest winner in a parliamentary vote but failed to rally enough support to form a government.

The presidency is a largely ceremonial position, but the vote for a new president is a key step in the political process because the president invites the nominee of the largest parliamentary bloc to form a government. Source: Al Jazeera