4 members of Iraq election worker's family killed

Attackers have slit the throats of a mother and three sisters of an Iraqi election commission employee in their home, Reuters reported security and medical sources saying today.

The employee himself, from the Turkmen minority in the town of Hamrin in ethnically mixed Diyala Province, was not at home at the time and was unharmed, the sources said. No group has claimed responsibility for the killings late on Sunday.

Daesh threatened to attack Iraq’s May parliamentary election and anyone who assisted in it. At least one candidate was killed before the vote but the group did not claim responsibility for his killing.

Iraq’s parliamentary election on 12 May was marred by low turnout and allegations of fraud.

A manual recount of some votes is to take place after allegations that electronic vote-counting equipment was misused. Parliament has replaced the leaders of the election commission with judges.

Read: On the fire that ruined Iraq’s elections