ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Several clashes broke out across Iraq on Tuesday, resulting in multiple arrests, as the country holds its parliamentary elections.

Iraq began its sixth parliamentary elections on Tuesday morning at 7:00 am, where over 7,750 candidates compete for the legislature’s 329 seats. Over 7,000 polling stations opened across Iraq for more than 20 million eligible voters.

At least two people were reportedly killed and another injured after an encounter between two families in Erbil’s Debaga devolved into an armed altercation over a “social dispute,” eyewitnesses told The New Region. 

Three people were arrested over the incident,  during which heavy machine guns were used, according to The New Region’s correspondent. 

In a separate incident meanwhile in southern Iraq, armed clashes broke out after security forces attempted to arrest a wanted drug suspect in Basra. The incident led to a firefight between security forces and members of the suspect’s tribe. 

A security source confirmed to The New Region that at least one tribesman was wounded as a result of the escalation. 

A local source from Anbar told The New Region that members of Mohammed al-Halbousi’s Taqadum party had allegedly “attempted to create a disturbance” at a polling station, after reports suggested that rivaling parties were receiving a large number of votes at the station.

Also in Anbar, altercations were reported between members of a local tribe and supporters of the Taqadum party, leading to the arrest of five people, according to the source.  

Another incident saw a Kurdish youth in Salahaddin’s Tuz Khurmatu come under attack by soldiers belonging to the Iraqi army “for the sole reason that he was carrying a Kurdistan flag,” the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga ministry said in a statement, condemning the attack. 

The Peshmerga ministry called on the Iraqi Joint Operations Command to follow up on the attack and ensure that the parties responsible face justice, and that similar incidents are not repeated. 

The clashes follow mere hours after an escalation between supporters of the Iraqi Turkmen Front and security forces in Kirkuk left at least two police officers killed, leading to 14 arrests. 

More than 185,000 security personnel have been assigned to secure the polling stations across Iraq for the parliamentary elections. Security forces cast their ballots two days before the general elections in an early polling on Sunday.