ISIL Reportedly Claims Assassination of Iraqi Election Candidate

The Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group claimed that it assassinated an Iraqi election candidate, as the country is to vote in national elections next weekend.

According to AFP, citing a local official, Faruq Zarzur al-Juburi, a candidate supporting Vice President Ayad Allawi had been shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside his house near Mosul.

The Daesh terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Similar information was received by Sputnik earlier on Monday from local sources in the province of Nineveh, who stated that Zarzur was shot dead near his house when he returned home from morning prayer.

His murder is the first attack on participants of the pre-election campaign in Iraq. However, no official statement on the attack has been issued so far.

The citizens of Iraq are set to vote for the next federal government on May 12, what will become their first elections since the rise of the Daesh terror group and its defeat announced last year.

Major coalitions were put forward by the leading Shiite politicians of the country — Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Vice President Nuri al-Maliki.

There are 6,686 candidates, 2,014 of them women, for 328 seats in the parliament.