BAGHDAD, Dec 8 (NNN-NINA) – Up to 25 people were killed, and 137 others wounded, in attack on protesters, in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, a Ministry official said.
“The final toll of the attack, by unidentified gunmen on demonstrators, on Friday evening, is 23 killed and some 137 others wounded,” the official said.
On Friday evening, dozens of unidentified gunmen, in four-wheel drive and pick-up vehicles, broke into the al-Khalani Square in central Baghdad and opened fire with assault rifles on demonstrators.
The attack pushed many of the protesters to take cover in buildings and mosques at the scene, or flee for their lives to nearby al-Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the protest movement.
In a statement, Iraqi President, Barham Salih, described the attack on the protesters as “criminal attack” and called on the authorities to “prevent and criminalise” any armed and violent reaction to the peaceful demonstrators.
For her part, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, special representative of the UN secretary-general for Iraq, condemned with the “strongest terms” the shooting of unarmed protesters in central Baghdad.
“The government must identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice without delay,” said Hennis-Plasschaert.
She urged the Iraqi armed forces “to spare no effort to protect the demonstrators from violence, by armed elements operating outside the control of the state.”
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Independent High Commission for Human Rights condemned the attack and considered it as “terrorist crimes.”
The commission also called on the Baghdad Operations Command and other security forces, to “arrest the criminals who caused this heinous criminal act that amounts to terrorist crimes, in accordance with Iraqi anti-terrorism law.”– NNN-NINA
