Four policemen died and 3o were wounded in a car accident southwest of Kirkuk while travelling in a bust to cast ballot in special voting day, a source in police anonymously told Kirkuknow.
A big vehicle hit the bus in al-Rashad sub-district, southwest of Kirkuk, as it was travelling the federal policemen from Kirkuk to Hawija district southwest of Kirkuk.
Two of the policemen passed away immediately at site and another two in the hospital, the anonymous source said.
Earlier today, media department of Kirkuk administration declared in a statement that three policemen were dead and 26 were injured in the car crash.
Kirkuk, located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, is an ethnically mixed province for 1.6 million Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs. It has long been at the center of disputed territories between Baghdad and Erbil.
The Iraqi security and military personnel across the country cast their ballots Friday, two days before the rest of the nation votes in parliamentary elections On October 10th.
The vote is being held six months before schedule, in a concession for anti-government protesters who rose up in October 2019 in Baghdad and Iraq’s south.
Friday’s so-called “special voting” two days ahead of the election is meant to free Iraqi police and army in order to provide security on Election Day.
The Independent High Electoral Commission IHEC has opened the doors of 595 ballot stations for almost 1.2 million voters.
About 1.075 million personnel of Iraqi security and military forces, 120,000 internally displaced people IDPs, mainly in Duhok and Erbil northern provinces, and 670 prisoners are allowed per their biometric voting cards to ballot from 7 am up to six pm.
There are 3,234 candidates vying for 329 seats in parliament in Sunday’s vote, the fifth held since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
almost 24 million of Iraq’s estimated 40 million people are eligible to vote.
