30 January,2009 09:20 AM IST | | Agencies
Gunmen killed three Iraqi election candidates in separate incidents yesterday, two days before Iraq holds provincial polls that will test the war-weary country's fragile democracy.
Hazem Salem Ahmed, a Sunni Arab candidate from the National Unity List, was shot outside his home in the volatile northern city of Mosul, where minority Kurds and Sunnis are facing off and where al-Qaeda and other insurgents have made a last stand.
In Baghdad's Amiriya district, gunmen killed candidate Omar Faruq al-Ani, a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, near his home after a campaign rally.
Candidate Abbas Farhan from the National Movement of Reform and Development was gunned down in a village near the town of Mandili in Diyala Province, northeast of Baghdad, near the Iranian border, also after a campaign rally.
The rash of shootings brought to at least five the number of candidates slain before the polls. The election will select local leaders in 14 out of 18 provinces and could alter Iraq's delicate balance of power.
Sunni Arabs, a minority disempowered after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, are likely to gain power in some areas after boycotting elections in 2005.
Shi'ite parties, including those backed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, are competing across the largely Shi'ite south and other areas.
