Daesh claims responsibility for assassination of Iraqi election candidate

The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the assassination of an Iraqi parliamentary candidate at his home in the country’s northern province of Nineveh.

Daesh, in a statement published on Telegram messaging application on Monday, announced that 45-year-old Faruq Zarzur al-Juburi, a contender from Vice President Ayad Allawi's National Alliance list, was shot dead in Qayyarah, situated 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of the provincial capital city of Mosul, at dawn because he was “an atheist.”

In a video posted on Facebook the day before he was gunned down, Juburi called on voters to be cautious of gregarious candidates “and those who buy votes.”

He promised “a strong government – one that will take care of poor, families of martyrs, reconstruction and citizens” in the video.

“In a few days, God willing, we will be celebrating victory,” Juburi said as he was carrying his six-year-old son Rayan in his arms.

Late last month, Daesh spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir stated that members of the terror outfit would attack polling stations, voters and candidates during national Iraqi elections, which are set to take place on Saturday.

“We know that the government … is on the verge of what they call elections. Our judgment will apply to those who call for them and participate in them... The voting centers and those in them are targets for our swords, so stay away from them and do not walk nearby,” he said.

This picture, taken on May 7, 2018 in Najaf, shows electoral posters ahead of Iraq's parliamentary elections to be held on May 12. (Photo by AFP)

On Friday, Iraq's prominent Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged eligible voters in the Arab country not to cast their ballots in favor of "corrupt" lawmakers during next week's national elections.

Grand Ayatollah Sistani’s representative Sheikh Abdul Mahdi Karbalai said in a Friday sermon on his behalf in the holy city of Karbala that the Iraqis, who will vote in the May 12 polls, should not re-elect candidates from among parliamentarians and officials who have proved to be “corrupt and failing.”

Grand Ayatollah Sistani further noted that participation in the forthcoming elections is the right of every Iraqi citizen who meets the legal requirements.

“The Iraqi religious leadership states that it stands at distance from all candidates and electoral lists in a sense that it means it does not support any particular person or list,” he concluded.