5 Iraqi personnel killed, 105 wounded in Green Zone clashes
Iraqi riot police in the heavily guarded Green Zone during protests last July. Photo: AP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – An Iraqi security source announced on Tuesday the number of Iraqi security personnel killed in the clashes that took place on Monday and Tuesday between protesters in the Green Zone in Baghdad.
The source explained that the clashes that took place in Baghdad claimed the lives of five security personnel, in addition to 105 security personnel were wounded.
At least 30 people were killed and 570 others were wounded during the clashes in Baghdad, according to medical sources.
The Green Zone clashes lasted for around 24 hours and ended after the Shiite cleric and leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, gave his supporters 60 minutes to stop all protests, denouncing their use of violence.
The Joint Operations Command in Iraq announced it lifted the curfew it imposed a day before in an attempt to stop the clashes, and the Operations Commander in Baghdad said that all closed roads around the Green Zone are opened.
On Monday, dozens of supporters of the Sadrist movement broke into the Green Zone in Baghdad after Muqtada al-Sadr announced his resignation from political work.
Al-Sadr’s announcement to withdraw from the political work took place earlier on Monday after the 72-hour deadline he gave last Friday to the Supreme Court to dissolve the parliament expired.
The United Nations and several international parties called on Iraqi leaders and armed militias to exercise restraint and not be drawn into violence.