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Iraq | |||
Tensions flare as gunmen kill 17 protesters in Baghdad | |||
2019-12-08 | |||
![]() The protest movement faced another worrying turn on Saturday after an armed drone targeted the home of Iraqi holy man Moqtada "Tater" Sadr, an attack his office said could lead to "civil war." The dramatic developments have threatened to derail the anti-government rallies rocking Iraq since October, the largest and deadliest grassroots movement in decades. Whoa! What? Late Friday, at least 17 people were killed and dozens maimed when unidentified button men attacked a large building where protesters had camped out for weeks, medics said.
The violence pushed the protest toll past 440 dead and to nearly 20,000 maimed, according to a tally compiled from medics, police and a national rights commission.
"They fired intensely, mercilessly on the protesters," one witness said. "They wouldn’t let us evacuate the maimed. It was slaughter." As night fell on Saturday, protesters feared the same scene would play out again. "The same type of men who came in last night are back and police are not stopping them," one worried demonstrator said. Protesters had suspected their movement’s legitimacy would be smeared or pushed towards chaos and were particularly wary of any partisan support. After Friday’s attack, large crowds headed to Tahrir in solidarity ‐ many of them apparently members of Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigades), headed by Sadr. The notoriously politically versatile holy man was one of the main sponsors of the current government but then backed the protests. He sent his followers into the streets after Friday’s attack "to protect protesters," a Saraya said. But just a few hours later, Sadr’s home in the shrine city of Najaf was hit by an apparent mortar round dropped by a drone, sources from his party said. "Only the external wall was damaged," one of them said, adding that Sadr was currently in Iran. Dozens of his supporters flocked to his home on Saturday to show support, waving Iraqi flags and the holy man’s picture while chanting, "We are all your soldiers!" "This is a clear attack that could kindle a war ‐ maybe a civil war ‐ in Iraq. Self-restraint is essential," Sadr’s front man Salah al-Obeidi said. Lawmakers from Sadr’s Saeroon, which make up the largest bloc in parliament, called for an emergency session over Friday’s violence.
"We are coming in solidarity with Baghdad," one said. Security forces were also deployed in Nasiriyah, where protests have continued despite an attempted crackdown last week that left more than two dozen dead. In Diwaniyah, another protest hotspot, thousands turned out early on Saturday but security forces, too, spread across the streets in larger numbers. | |||
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