UPDATE: Islamic State behind assassination of parl’t candidate in Mosul

Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the assassination of a parliamentary candidate at his house in southern Mosul, AFP reported Monday.

Unidentified gunmen had stormed the house of Farouq Mohamed Zarzour at al-Lazaka village in southern Mosul earlier in the day and killed him, then they fled the scene.

“Zarzour was set to contest parliamentary elections in Nineveh province on the list of the National Coalition,” a security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AlSumaria News.

The source added that a security force cordoned off the shooting scene and opened a probe into the attack.

The Iraqi parliamentary elections, slated for May 12, will decide the 329 members of the Council of Representatives who will in turn elect the Iraqi president and prime minister.

The elections were originally scheduled for September 2017, but were delayed due to the country’s fight against Islamic State, which ended in December 2017 with the recapture of their remaining territories.

Iraq declared victory over Islamic State in December with the help of a US-led alliance, having retaken all the territory captured by the extremists in 2014 and 2015.

Nearly 7,000 Iraqi candidates started their campaigning for parliamentary elections, in which they compete for 329 seats.