BAGHDAD — Iraqis braved the threat of bombs and attacks to vote today in key elections for a new parliament.

Hundreds of thousands of troops and police fanned out to guard voting centers in the first nationwide balloting since the 2011 American pullout. Scattered attacks still took place north of Baghdad, killing at least three people and wounding 16.

There were 22 million eligible voters, choosing from among some 9,000 candidates.

SYDNEY — The Australian agency heading up the search for the missing Malaysian jet has dismissed a claim by a resource survey company that it found possible plane wreckage in the northern Bay of Bengal.The location cited by Australia-based GeoResonance is thousands of miles north of a remote area in the Indian Ocean where the search for Flight 370 has been concentrated for weeks.The international team leading the search said Tuesday it is satisfied the missing aircraft is somewhere off Australia’s west coast.