TEHRAN (Iran News) – Reports of clashes in Baghdad and southern Iraq indicate that at least seven people were killed and dozens wounded in the latest spate of ongoing protests against economic hardships and corruption, police and medical sources said Sunday. In the southern town of Nasiriyah in Iraq, security forces clashed with demonstrators and […]
TEHRAN (Iran News) – Reports of clashes in Baghdad and southern Iraq indicate that at least seven people were killed and dozens wounded in the latest spate of ongoing protests against economic hardships and corruption, police and medical sources said Sunday.
In the southern town of Nasiriyah in Iraq, security forces clashed with demonstrators and used tear gas canisters to disperse protesters who had gathered overnight on three bridges amid ongoing protests, Reuters reported.
Police and health officials said three people were killed, and hospital sources said another person died later from bullet wounds to his head.
More than 50 others were injured in clashes in the city, they added.
Two people were killed and over 70 wounded when security forces tried to disperse protesters near the country’s main Persian Gulf port of Umm Qasr near Basra, police and medical sources said.
The protesters had gathered to demand security forces open roads around the port town. Authorities have blocked the roads to try to prevent protesters from reaching the port’s entrance.
Umm Qasr is Iraq’s largest commodities port, taking in grain, vegetable oils and sugar shipments that feed a country largely dependent on imported food.
In Baghdad, one protester was killed during overnight demonstrations in Al-Rasheed Street in the city center when police fired shots to disperse protesters, police and medical sources said.
Protests flared anew on Sunday on the street when security forces clashed with protestors to prevent them from trying to reach the road leading to Iraq’s Central Bank. At least 15 protesters were wounded, police and medical sources said.
At least 330 people have been killed since the start of mass unrest in Baghdad and southern Iraq in early October, the largest demonstrations since the fall of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Protesters are demanding action against corruption while many Iraqis languish in poverty without jobs, healthcare or education.
