At least 14 people were killed, and 289 more were wounded:
Protests across Iraq have left at least 10 dead and 286 wounded. The injured included 40 security personnel. The fatalities occurred in Baghdad and Nasariya. At least 11 people were arrested in Basra. The Iraqi government blamed “groups of riot inciters” for the violence.
At least 1,000 people gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, where much of the violence took place; the trigger may have been an attempt to enter the Green Zone. This is largest gathering since Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi took power last year. Security personnel at some point had turned to live ammunition to disperse the crowds. Demonstrations were also reported in Basra, Dhi Qar, Diwaniya, Karbala, Najaf, Nasariya and Wasit. Use of live ammo to clear protesters was also reported in Nasariya, where a fatality occurred.
Among the complaints are lack of basic services, rampant corruption, and unequal treatment within the Iraqi Army. Many of the protesters are unemployable college graduates. Riots during the summer of 2018 turned deadly as well. Today, however, the recent removal Iraq’s counterterrorism chief, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi from his post was an added motive to demonstrate; many marchers carried his photo with them.
According to witnesses near Ozmana, Turkish warplanes, targeting a vehicle carrying five Kurdistan Workers’ Party (P.K.K.) guerrillas, killed three of them and wounded two more.
The body of a six-year-old girl was found hours after she was kidnapped in Tubzawa by gunmen. The child’s family is from Hawija but were displace by violence.
In Khanaqin, a sniper wounded a militiaman.
