ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A candidate for Iraq’s upcoming legislative elections was assassinated at dawn on Wednesday in a car bomb attack in northern Baghdad, authorities confirmed. Safaa al-Mashhadani, a member of Baghdad’s Provincial Council, was running on the Sunni Arab Sovereignty-Legislation Alliance ticket.
The assassination took place in the Tarmiah area of the Taji district.
In a statement on its official page on Facebook, Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) reported that “a sticky explosive device was placed under a [Chevrolet] Tahoe vehicle belonging to Baghdad Provincial Council member Safaa Hussein Yassin al-Mashhadani, a candidate for the upcoming parliamentary elections. It exploded in the al-Dubbat neighborhood” within Taji.
The Command confirmed that the blast resulted in Safaa al-Mashhadani’s death and injuries to four others inside the vehicle.
In response to the attack, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani - who also serves as commander-in-chief of the armed forces - ordered the formation of “a joint forensic technical team and a high-level investigative committee” to determine the circumstances surrounding the assassination, the BOC added.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who is affiliated with the same political alliance as Safaa al-Mashhadani, mourned the killing of “the dutiful son of the [Taji] district and candidate with our alliance, the National Sovereignty-Legislation Alliance, who ascended as a martyr this morning, following a treacherous explosive device that targeted him and two of his companions.”
The Parliament Speaker slammed the killing of Safaa al-Mashhadani as “a cowardly terrorist act” aimed at “undermining men of principle, position, and word.”
He further urged “the government and the relevant security authorities to take the necessary investigative procedures; and to form a committee to undertake the investigation into this heinous crime, to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice to receive their punishment.”
Mahmoud al-Mashhadani affirmed that the Iraqi legislature will also “form an investigative committee to ascertain the circumstances of the terrorist incident that targeted a national and social figure, and to bring all those involved to the judiciary.”
Safaa al-Mashhadani was listed as candidate number 26 for the Sovereignty Alliance, a major Sunni political bloc led by businessman and politician Khamis al-Khanjar. The coalition includes several influential Sunni figures, including the sitting Parliament Speaker himself.
This marks the first political assassination ahead of Iraq’s legislative elections scheduled for November 11, raising security concerns amid an already tense electoral atmosphere.
In a post on X, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) condemned Mashhdani's killing, urging Iraqi authorities to "conduct a swift and transparent investigation to hold to account perpetrators of this crime."
Updated at 06:28 pm.
