Apr 15, 2018

A car bomb attack targeted an election candidate in Iraq's contested Kirkuk city on Sunday, killing one person and wounding 11, a security official said.

The blast in the multi-ethnic city, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of Baghdad, came as war-torn Iraq gears up for legislative elections on May 12.

"A civilian was killed and 11 people were injured, including three bodyguards, in the convoy of Ammar Hadaya Kahya, a candidate for the Turkmen Front in Kirkuk," the security source said on condition of anonymity.

There were no immediate claims of responsbility for the attack.

Iraqi troops last year seized the vital oil-rich Kirkuk region from Kurdish forces after a controversial vote for independence in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish zone.