Candidate running in Iraqi elections killed in tribal conflict: Security sources

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A candidate for the State of Law coalition in the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections was killed in a tribal conflict east of Baghdad, security sources said on Sunday.

According to security officials, a tribal conflict ensued in the Mashtal area, east of the Iraqi capital, leading to the death of candidate Najm Hasnawi.

“Hasnawi, who lives in the area of Palestine Street, was visiting his family’s house, and while he was there, a clan conflict broke out followed by a shooting which caused his death,” an unnamed source was quoted as saying by RT Arabic.

The source did not specify if Hasnawi was involved in the conflict or if it was a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The candidate was running in a coalition bloc led by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who is competing against current PM Haider al-Abadi’s Al-Nasr (Victory) Coalition.

Hasnawi’s death is the second incident involving a candidate for the upcoming elections following the death of a nominee belonging to the “Wisdom” faction headed by Ammar al-Hakim.

Earlier this month, two local officials and a contender in the upcoming elections survived a suicide bombing in Anbar Province in western Iraq.

Iraqi forces rescued the three after suicide bombers allegedly tried to break into a municipal building in the town of Hit, Iraqi Operations Command said in a statement.

The security forces killed all three would-be assassins in a firefight.

The chairman of the Hit Council, the mayor of the town, and a female candidate to the Iraqi parliamentary elections were rescued from the building in which attackers had trapped them, the statement read.