Iraq-election death toll rises to 25

Iraqis voted today in an election testing the mettle of the country’s still-fragile democracy as insurgents killed 25 people across the Iraq, unleashing a barrage of mortars intent on disrupting the historic day.

About 19 million Iraqis are eligible to vote for who will lead the country after US forces pull out, in an election that will determine whether Iraq can overcome the jagged sectarian divisions that have defined it since the US-led invasion in 2003.