Four killed by Shiite election office bomb

A suicide driver detonated a car bomb today outside the offices of Iraq’s largest Shiite political party, killing three other people.

The attacker drove his vehicle to a checkpoint in front of offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known as SCIRI, and claimed to be one of the party’s security guards.

“The guards did not recognise him and the driver stepped back and detonated his car,” Lt Col Kendall Penn told reporters at the scene.

Penn said four people, including the driver, were killed and four were injured.

The attack occurred in the capital’s Jadriyah district and left the two vehicles in flames.

Shredded debris littered the street in front of the SCIRI offices.

SCIRI was at the forefront of the Shiite struggle against Saddam Hussein and many of its key figures fled to Iran, returning after the US-led invasion toppled the regime in April 2003.

It is expected to run strong in the election on January 30, when Iraqis choose a 275-member National Assembly.

Sunni Muslim clerics have called for an election boycott and Sunni insurgents have threatened to attack voting stations to disrupt the ballot, expected to transfer political power to the Shiite majority.