Iraq appoints ministers but govt still incomplete

The Iraqi parliament approved three new ministers on Monday, but the post of education minister remains unfilled eight months after Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi was appointed.

The legislature gave its backing to Abdel Mahdi's picks to head the defence, interior and justice ministries.

President Barham Saleh handed Abdel Mahdi the task of forming a new government last year, following the country's hard-fought victory over the Islamic State group, as several coalitions were jockeying for preeminence.

A veteran of Iraqi politics and an economist by training, Abdel Mahdi, 76, was regarded as sufficiently independent to be able to assemble a government despite fractures in the ruling elites.

He also has the backing of both Washington and Tehran, two key Iraqi allies who are themselves bitter enemies.

But he has faced a complex task building a government which faces the enormous challenges of rebuilding a country ravaged by three years of fighting IS.

Abdel Mahdi won parliament's backing