“Kurdish PMF Implicated".. Assassination attempt on PUK lawmaker
Shafaq News / Hassan Mohammed Ahmed, former Saladin Council member and Deputy Head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Saladin, alleged on Thursday that the attempted assassination of Comrade Mulla Kareem Shakur is connected to the Kurdish Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Saladin.
Ahmed informed Shafaq News Agency that "two individuals claiming affiliation with the emerging Kurdish PMF in Tuz Khurmatu entered the party office where Shakur was present and requested a meeting. They also invited him to the inauguration ceremony of the Kurdish PMF headquarters in Tuz Khurmatu."
He explained that when the deputy declined the invitation, a verbal altercation ensued. During the exchange, one of the individuals drew a pistol and fired several shots at Comrade Shakur, but none hit him. However, due to confusion, the attacker sustained a wound to the armpit and was later hospitalized for treatment.
Kurdish officials provided an alternative account, suggesting that one of the two individuals who entered the party office in the Hemrin sub-district of Tuz Khurmatu attempted to open fire on Comrade Shakur.
A security guard responded by shooting the attacker, hitting him in his lower abdomen with the bullet exiting from his back. The wounded assailant was transferred from Tuz Khurmatu Hospital to Kirkuk Hospital due to the severity of his condition.
Sources have confirmed the arrest of the two individuals responsible for the assassination attempt, and an investigation is underway.
The Kurdish PMF is being established as a political and partisan entity in Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu.
It is currently seeking official approval from the PMF Authority. However, it has been firmly rejected by all Kurdish parties and holds no affiliation with them.
The PUK's "Hemrin" bureau's media office earlier reported that Iraqi parliamentary member Mulla Karim Shakur, survived an assassination attempt in the Tuz Khurmatu district in eastern Saladin.
This district falls within the disputed areas between Erbil and Baghdad and is subject to Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution.
The office stated addressing the public, "We assure that Comrade Mulla Kareem Shakur is safe as he survived the assassination attempt."
