ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - An officer of the Iraqi military died on Saturday after succumbing to wounds he sustained while seeking to contain clashes that broke out in Kirkuk ahead of Iraq's 2025 parliamentary elections on November 11.

Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Naeem Jarallah, a Basra native, was seriously wounded during containment efforts and had been hospitalized ever since before his condition "sharply deteriorated," a security source told The New Region.

Jarallah had an exemplary record of "military service, discipline, and field work," the source added, with the late soldier's military leadership hailing him as "an example of courage and commitment."

Two members of the security forces were killed in Kirkuk early Tuesday morning in the run-up to the parliamentary elections, with a security guard for an Iraqi Turkmen Front candidate allegedly firing the fatal shots, The New Region’s correspondent in the city reported.

Speaking to reporters, Kirkuk Governor Rebwar Taha confirmed later on Tuesday that the assailant was a candidate’s security guard. Taha said that the guard acted “contrary to all legal basis,” noting that there were no grounds to open fire.

The governor added that all of the suspects involved in the incident have already been arrested and their arms confiscated. Taha denied the presence of any political actors behind the incident, adding that the clash “emerged in a random and spontaneous fashion” and that two police officers who were at the scene were caught in the crossfire.

The Kirkuk episode was one of a series of violent incidents that occurred on election day despite extensive security efforts and the deployment of 185,000 personnel to secure voting centers in a bid to safeguard the polling day procedures.

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 rival 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.