Abadi faces calls to quit as missiles strike Basra airport

Iraq’s caretaker prime minister Haider Al Abadi faced calls to step down yesterday as Parliament held an emergency session to discuss the violence in Basra province, where three rockets were fired at the airport in the morning.

A week of violent protests has led to the deaths of 12 people and the Iranian consulate and government buildings being torched and ransacked.

The call for Mr Al Abadi to quit came from the two largest groups in the newly elected parliament.

“We demand the government apologise to the people and resign immediately,” said Hassan Al Aqouli, spokesman for the list of populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, which won the most seats in a May election.

Ahmed Al Assadi, spokesman for the second-largest bloc, Fatah Alliance, denounced “the government’s failure to resolve the crisis in Basra”.

Mr Al Assadi said the Fatah Alliance was “on the same wavelength” as Mr Al Sadr’s alliance and they would work together to form a new government.

The announcement deals a blow to Mr Al Abadi’s hopes of holding on to his post through a coalition with Mr Al Sadr, which was unveiled just days earlier.

During a cabinet meeting earlier, he described the unrest in Basra as “political sabotage” and said he had instructed security forces to “act decisively against the acts of vandalism that accompanied the demonstrations”.

Mr Al Abadi also ordered the security forces to be investigated “for not fulfilling their duties”, his office said.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, which includes the army and police, pledged a severe response, with “exceptional security measures” including a ban on protests and group travel.

Iraqi security sources said the three Katyusha rockets had been fired by unknown assailants and hit the perimeter of the airport, although no damage or casualties had been reported. The US consulate is next to the airport.

An official said there was no disruption to operations.

The attack came shortly after a citywide curfew was lifted and hours after the reopening of Iraq’s main seaport of Umm Qasr, where protesters had blocked the port’s entrance, forcing a halt to all operations.

Also yesterday, the local military commander of an alliance of powerful Shiite militias vowed to respond to the protests.

“We will have a response to those who are carrying out acts of arson and sabotage,” said the commander, identified as Abu Yasser Al Jaafari.

Mr Al Jaafari said that the lack of a response should not be taken as a sign of weakness. He spoke at the city’s presidential palaces compound where Shiite paramilitary troops are stationed.

The wave of demonstrations first broke out in Basra in July before spreading to other parts of the country, with residents condemning corruption among Iraqi officials and demanding jobs and basic services, including electricity and water.

A surge in illnesses has been blamed on the lack of clean drinking water.

“More than 17,000 patients have been admitted to local hospitals – 2,600 are suffering from diarrhoea and the rest are suffering from issues related to stomach pains,” Alaa Hashim, Basra’s Heath Ministry spokesman, told last month.

On Friday, protesters broke into the Iranian consulate’s offices and set it alight, shouting condemnation at what many perceive as Iran’s sway over Iraq’s political affairs. Iran and Iraq both strongly condemned the move, raising fears of possible retribution.

Three protesters died on Friday and 48 were injured, 26 of them shot, sources said. Two members of the security force were wounded.

The unrest has thrust Iraq into a major crisis at a time when politicians have yet to agree on a new government after the inconclusive election in May.

The new parliament met for the first time on Monday, but broke up after a day having failed to elect a speaker, much less name a prime minister.

Organisers of the demonstrations said they would pause protests yesterday, while additional security forces have been sent as back-up.

Residents in Basra, a city of more than two million people, say they have been driven to the streets by corruption and misrule that allowed infrastructure to collapse.

The rocket attack adds a sinister dimension to the problems plaguing southern Iraq