3 Iraqi protesters killed amid night of violence in south
Iraqi officials said Wednesday that three protesters
were killed and 35 wounded by security forces in southern Iraq after the
previous day’s sit-ins and road closures, raising the death toll to six people.
Two of the anti-government protesters were killed
when security forces fired live ammunition to disperse crowds in the holy city
of Karbala late Tuesday, security and medical officials said. One protester
died of wounds suffered when a tear gas canister struck him in clashes earlier
in the day. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with
regulations.
Demonstrations had raged in Baghdad and across the
mostly Shiite southern Iraq. The protesters accuse the Shiite-led government of
being hopelessly corrupt and complain of poor public services and high
unemployment. At least 350 people have been killed and thousands wounded since
Iraq’s protests started Oct. 1, in what has become the largest grassroots
protest movement in Iraq’s modern history.
Three simultaneous explosions rocked Baghdad late
Tuesday, killing five people and wounding more than a dozen, Iraqi officials
said, in the first apparent coordinated attack since anti-government protests
erupted. The bombings took place far from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the
epicenter of weeks of anti-government protests that have posed the biggest
security challenge to Iraq since the defeat of the Islamic State group.
Roads between Karbala and Baghdad were blocked by
protesters Wednesday. Demonstrators have burned tires and cut access to main
roads in several southern provinces in recent days.
In the southern city of Basra, protesters continued
to cut roads to the main Gulf commodities port in Umm Qasr, reducing trade
activity by 50%, according to port officials who spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
Protesters in Baghdad are occupying part of three
key bridges — Jumhuriya, Ahrar and Sinak — in a standoff with security forces.
