Attack on Iraqi parliamentary candidate’s office leads to two injuries
(MENAFN) Two bodyguards were wounded early Saturday when armed assailants opened fire on the office of an Iraqi parliamentary candidate south of Baghdad, according to security sources.
The incident targeted Sunni politician Muthanna al-Azzawi in Yusufiyah, approximately 25 kilometres from the capital, and comes just days after a bomb killed another candidate ahead of the November 11 elections for Iraq’s Shiite-majority parliament. The attackers fled the scene.
Al-Azzawi, a member of the Baghdad provincial council and part of the centrist Azem Alliance led by Muthanna al-Samarrai, condemned the assault, saying:
“These acts will not stop us from continuing to serve our people. The attackers will be punished for their actions sooner or later.”
Earlier this week, a bomb killed fellow council member and election candidate Safaa Al Mashhadani when it exploded under his car north of Baghdad, also injuring three of his bodyguards. Al Mashhadani was running with the Sovereignty Alliance, one of Iraq’s largest Sunni coalitions, led by businessman Khamis Al Khanjar and parliament speaker Mahmoud Al Mashhadani. The coalition condemned the attack as “an extension of the approach of exclusion, targeting and treachery pursued by the forces of uncontrolled weapons and terrorism, all of which seek to silence free national voices.”
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani has ordered an investigation and called for the perpetrators to be apprehended.
Iraq’s 329-member parliament is dominated by Shiite parties aligned with neighboring Iran. The upcoming election will be the sixth since the 2003 US-led invasion that removed Saddam Hussein. Traditionally, Iraq’s prime minister is a Shiite, the president a Kurd, and the parliamentary speaker a Sunni.
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