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( BAGHDAD) — Security armies shot dead 40 anti-government objectors during 24 hours of bloodshed amid spiraling violence in the capital city and Iraq’s south, the safety and medical officials said Thursday, one day after an Iranian consulate was torched.
Iran condemned the burning of its consulate in the holy city of Najaf as violence continued into the night across southern Iraq, where security forces had killed 36 protesters and wounded 245 since Wednesday evening, government officials said. Another four objectors were shot dead in the capital. The officials spoke on condition of obscurity in line with regulations.
Police and military forces were deployed across key oil-rich states to re-open streets closed off by shows.
The escalating violence and heavy response against demonstrators by a largely Iran-backed government threatened to intensify tensions, specially if efforts to implement electoral and anti-corruption reforms fail to placate protesters.
Crisis committees were created to enhance coordination between Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and governors in districts are subject to the demonstrations “for the importance of controlling security and enforcing the law, ” said a statement released by the joint operations command.
Security powers killed four objectors dead in Baghdad and wounded 22 when they tried to cross the important Ahrar Bridge leading to the nearby Green Zone, the heavily fort bench of Iraq’s government. Protesters occupy parts of the Jumhuriya, Sinak and Ahrar bridges, all of which lead to or near the fortified area.
In Najaf, five demonstrators were fatally killed and 32 wounded when security force opened fire to prevent them from torching a center mosque named after the parent of a prominent political leader, officials said.
The demises came after a day after protesters burned the Iranian consulate in Najaf. It was one of the worst assaults targeting Iranian interests in the country since the anti-government complains erupted two months ago.
The unrest in Iraq began on Oct. 1, when thousands took to the streets in Baghdad and the predominantly Shiite south. The largely leaderless movement accuses the government of being hopelessly corrupted and has also denounced Iran’s growing influence in Iraqi state affairs.
At least 350 people have been killed by security forces, which routinely use live ammo and tear gas to disperse crowds.
Iran has called for a “responsible, strong and effective” response to the burning of its consulate, Abbas Mousavi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said during proclamations to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attack, saying it was perpetrated by “people outside of the genuine protesters” seeking to harm relations between the countries.
One demonstrator was killed and 35 wounded when police burnt live ammo in a miscarried effort to prevent protesters participating the consulate construct. Once inside, the demonstrators removed the Iranian flag and supplanted it with an Iraqi one, said a police official who spoke on condition of obscurity in line with regulations.
A curfew was imposed in Najaf after the attack on the consulate. Security personnels were heavily deployed around main government builds and religious universities Thursday morning.
Najaf province is the headquarters of the country’s Shiite religious power manager by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. He has been largely supportive of protester requirements, siding with them by repeatedly calling on political parties to implement serious reforms.
Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on Iraq’s government to renounce “immediately to stop the bloodletting, ” while praying objectors to maintain the peace.
“If the government does not resign, this will be the beginning of the end of Iraq, ” he warned.
Al-Sadr, who has supported the objections, also categorically denied that his supporters were involved in the attack on the Iranian consulate in Najaf.
In addition to using sit-ins and burning tires to close main boulevards, protesters have lately targeted Iraqi economic interests in the southern part by blocking key ports and streets to oil fields.
In the oil-rich city of Nasiriyah, 31 demonstrators were killed overnight and 215 wounded by security forces who fired to drive them away them from key bridges, security and medical officials said Thursday. Demonstrators had been blocking Nasr and Zaitoun bridges leading to the city center for several days. Security armies moved here late Wednesday to open the primary thoroughfare.
By Thursday afternoon, special forces were transferred from neighboring Najaf and Diwanieh provinces to Nasiriyah to contain the violence, security officials said.
Amnesty International denounced the violence, calling it a slaughter that “must stop now.”
“The incidents from Nasiriyah this morning more closely resemble a warzone than metropoli streets and bridges. This brutal onslaught is just the latest in a long series of deadly occurrences where Iraqi security forces meted out appalling violence against largely peaceful protesters, ” said Lynn Maalouf, Middle East research director for the rights groups.
In Basra, security force were deployed in the city’s main roads to prevent demonstrators from staging sit-ins on important avenues.
Basra’s streets were open as of Thursday morning, but highways leading to the two main Gulf commodities ports in Umm Qasr and Khor al-Zubair remained closed. Schools and official public establishments were also closed.
Separately, the U.S. Embassy denounced a recent decision by Iraq’s media regulator to suspend nine television channels, calling for the Communications and Media Commission to reverse its decision. The embassy’s Thursday statement also denounced assaults and harassment against journalists.
Local channel Dijla TV had its license suspended Tuesday for the insurance coverage of the complains, and its office was closed and equipment confiscated, according senior officials from one of the canals under threat. Other channels have been asked by the regulatory commission to sign a pledge “agreeing to adhere to its rules, ” said the official, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal.
The Islamic State extremist group, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s coordinated bombings in three Baghdad vicinities that killed five people. The bombings, which occurred far from Tahrir square where demonstrators are camped, was the first apparent coordinated assault since anti-government complains began.
Read more: time.com
