Snipers at Iraq protests were Iran-backed militia officers

▶ Baghdad toll rose from six to 50 after arrival of Revolutionary Guards

Snipers from Iran-backed militias shot protesters during Iraq’s deadly anti-government demonstration this month, security sources said.

“We have confirmed evidence that the snipers were elements of militias reporting directly to their commander instead of the chief commander of the armed forces,” an Iraqi security official told Reuters. “They belong to a group that is very close to the Iranians.”

The revelation is the first confirmation that the militias collectively known as Hashed Al Shaabi took part in suppressing the protests that swept Baghdad and southern Iraq in the first week of this month.

More than 100 people were killed, mostly protesters, and more than 6,000 were injured during the demonstrations against corruption, unemployment and lack of basic services.

Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government said it was investigating the violence and officials have said the military and police used excessive force in certain instances, but there has been no mention of the involvement of the Iranbacked militias.

The two security sources said senior militia commanders decided on their own to help put down the protests and asked Abu Zainab Al Lami, head of security for the Hashed Al Shaabi, to direct the operation.

One of the security sources, who attended daily government security briefings, said militia men clad in black shot protesters on the third day of unrest on October 3, when the death toll soared to more than 50 from about half a dozen.

The second security source told Reuters that the snipers were using radio communications equipment provided by Iran that is difficult to intercept, giving the groups an essentially private network.

A group of senior commanders from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps travelled to Iraq on the second day of the protests and met Iraqi intelligence and security officials, according to a diplomat in the region. After the meeting, senior Revolutionary Guard officers with experience in curbing civil unrest continued to advise the Iraqi government, although no Iranian soldiers were used, the diplomat told Reuters.

A commander of one of the Iran-backed militias – who said his group was not involved in efforts to stop the protests – said Tehran consulted closely with forces trying to quell the demonstrations.

“After two days, they jumped in and supplied the government and militias with intelligence,” the militia leader said. “Iranian advisers insisted on having a role and warned us that the protests, if not reversed, would undermine the government of Abdul Mahdi.”

An official with the prime minister’s office said that it would be “premature to lay the blame on any parties, whether from Hashed or other security forces, before we end the investigation. Let’s wait and see who gave the order ‘shoot to kill’.”

Mohammed Ridha, the head of parliament’s security and defence committee, said on Thursday that an initial investigation showed there were “deliberate killings of protesters by some elements”.

The protester deaths have put pressure on Mr Abdul Mahdi and his year-old government as the public and politicians demand an explanation for the high death toll. The prime minister is already caught in the middle of the regional standoff between Iran and the United States, both allies of Iraq.

Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan had said state security forces did not fire directly at protesters and blamed unnamed vicious shooters for the many deaths and injuries. The government launched an investigation to determine who shot the protesters and who ordered it, he said, on October 6.

The government announced two more investigations on Saturday, a day after Iraq’s leading Shiite cleric set a two-week deadline for the government to reveal its findings.

“The government is responsible when, under the eye of law enforcement, protesters are fired on illegally and media are beaten or attacked to terrorise their employees,” Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani said in his Friday sermon.

One of the investigations is led by Iraq’s military command and expected to shed light on the deaths and wounded as well as attacks on public buildings and raids by unidentified gunmen on news media.

The other, composed of representatives from the armed forces, parliament, the human rights commission and the judiciary will investigate and bring to justice soldiers who acted illegally.

The prime minister’s office said the commission to investigate military personnel was a “response to Grand Ayatollah Sistani’s sermon”.

Meanwhile, a relative of a popular Iraqi blogger said he was detained on Thursday, apparently over his coverage of the anti-government protests.

The family member said armed masked gunmen stormed the apartment of Shujaa Al Khafaji in Baghdad at dawn and took him away.

Mr Al Khafaji, 29, runs a Facebook page called Brothers Iraq that focuses on breaches of human rights.