Two more killed in Iraq as protests spread
Two more demonstrators were killed in southern Iraq, officials said, as protests against unemployment spread on Saturday from the port city of Basra to other parts of the country including Baghdad.
The deaths overnight in Maysan Province on the border with Iran brought to three the number of demonstrators killed since the protests erupted Sunday in neighboring Basra, Reuters reported.
A spokesman for the Maysan health authorities, Ahmad al-kanani, said the pair died from gunshot wounds in the provincial capital Amarah.
It was not clear who killed them but Kanani said there had been “indiscriminate gunfire” in the city.
Dozens more have been wounded in the past week, including security forces, according to medical sources.
The unrest came as Iraq struggles to rebuild after a devastating three-year war against Daesh terrorist group, and with the country in political limbo following May elections.
The demonstrations over unemployment, the rising cost of living and a lack of basic services escalated after a protester was killed by security forces on Sunday in Basra.
Demonstrators set tires ablaze to block roads and tried to storm government installations.
On Friday, Prime Minister Haider al-abadi flew to Basra from Brussels, where he had attended a NATO summit, to try to restore calm. But even as he met the governor of the oil-rich province and energy chiefs, protesters took to the streets of Basra city as well as other parts of the province and the unrest spread further afield.
Overnight in Maysan, several protests were held outside the headquarters of various political parties – including Abadi’s Islamic Dawa Party – and some were set on fire, Iraqi media reported.
A small protest also took place after midnight in the northern Baghdad district of Al-shula amid a heavy deployment of security forces, a security source told AFP.
The source said a few protesters were still out on the streets of Al-shula on Saturday morning, adding that the demonstration was peaceful.
After visiting Basra, the prime minister chaired a security cabinet in Baghdad, his office said in a statement accusing “infiltrators” of feeding on “peaceful protests to attack public and private property”.
“Our forces will take all the necessary measures to counter those people,” the statement said.
Officially, 10.8 percent of Iraqis are jobless, while youth unemployment is twice as high in a country where 60 percent of the population are aged under 24.
Flights to Najaf
Hundreds of Iraqis stormed the Najaf airport and halted air traffic in the Shia holy city on Friday, extending several days of protests, Reuters reported.
Flights from Iran to the Iraqi city of Najaf will be diverted to Baghdad, Iran’s state television reported on Sunday.
Also Jordan’s state airline said on Sunday it had suspended four weekly flights to the Iraqi city due to the “security situation at its airport.
The Dubai state-owned airline flydubai also said on Sunday it halted flights to Najaf “due to the disruption on the ground” at the airport until July 22.
Najaf airport was closed on Friday after protests there halted air traffic. Najaf is among the cities in southern Iraq that have witnessed days of protests over poor services and against alleged official corruption.