Iraq woman candidate gunned down

A woman planning to stand in Iraq's March 7 general election was gunned down today in the restive northern city of Mosul, police said, just days before campaigning is officially due to start.

Suha Abdul Jarallah, a candidate on the list of pro-Western former prime minister Iyad Allawi, was shot dead as she left a house in the Ras al-Jadda neighbourhood in central Mosul, 350 kilometers (218 miles) north of Baghdad.

"She was getting out of a relative’s home when she was shot dead by an unidentified gunman who then fled in a car carrying two other men," the officer said. It was not immediately clear if the killing was politically motivated.

Campaigning for the delayed election, the second parliamentary vote since the US-led ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein, is set to begin on February 12.

The past week has been dominated by a disagreement over a judicial panel's decision to allow around 500 candidates accused of having links to Saddam's outlawed Baath party to stand after all, having previously been banned from the ballot.

Iraqi MPs plan to meet on Monday to debate the matter after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who branded the ruling "illegal," recalled parliament.