Iraqi security forces have shot at anti-government protesters in Baghdad, killing at least one person, and unidentified men have set fire to sit-in tents in a southern Iraqi city, police and medics said, as months-long civil unrest escalated.
Separately, at least one of five Katyusha rockets fired at Baghdad's fortified Green Zone hit the US embassy, wounding three people, in a rare direct targeting of the compound, security sources said. Reuters could not independently verify the rocket attacks.
Anti-government protests erupted in Baghdad on October 1 and quickly turned violent. Security forces and unidentified gunmen have shot protesters dead. Nearly 500 people have been killed in the unrest.
Protesters sit on barriers on a bridge leading to Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone.Credit:AP
The protests are an unprecedented leaderless challenge to Iraq's Shiite Muslim-dominated and largely Iran-backed ruling elite, which emerged after a US-led invasion toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
AAP
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