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An Iraqi parliamentary candidate has been killed and three of his bodyguards injured after a bomb detonated near his vehicle north of Baghdad, a security source confirmed on Wednesday.
The attack occurred in Tarmiyah, around 40 kilometres north of the capital, and comes just weeks before Iraq’s parliamentary elections, scheduled for 11 November.
According to the security source, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, the explosion targeted Safaa al-Mashhadani, a sitting member of the Baghdad Provincial Council and a parliamentary candidate.
“He died instantly, and three of his bodyguards were seriously wounded,” the source said.
Mashhadani was standing for election with the Sovereignty Alliance, one of Iraq’s leading Sunni coalitions led by businessman Khamis al-Khanjar and parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.
The coalition denounced the assassination as a “cowardly crime,” accusing “forces of uncontrolled weapons and terrorism” of attempting to silence “free national voices.”
It praised Mashhadani for his “fight and struggle for his people and his city of Tarmiyah against both terrorism and the forces of uncontrolled weapons.”
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has ordered an immediate investigation into the killing and instructed security forces to pursue those responsible.
“The entrances and exits to the crime scene are currently closed, and security forces are deployed,” a security source added.
The British ambassador to Iraq, Irfan Siddiq, also condemned the attack, writing in Arabic on the embassy’s social media: “Violence against political candidates undermines Iraqi democracy. We stand with Iraq’s leaders in condemning this violence.”
The killing highlights the fragile security situation in Iraq ahead of next month’s elections. The country’s 329-member parliament is dominated by Shiite parties aligned with neighbouring Iran.
The upcoming vote will be Iraq’s sixth general election since the 2003 US-led invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein.
