Baghdad, Aug 29 (AFP/APP):Two protesters were killed and Iraq declared a nationwide curfew after supporters of Moqtada Sadr stormed the government palace in Baghdad’s Green Zone Monday following the powerful Shiite leader’s declaration that he was quitting politics.
Shots were fired in the fortified area which houses government buildings as well as diplomatic missions, an AFP correspondent said, as tensions soared amid an escalating political crisis that has left Iraq without a new government, prime minister or president for months.
The army announced a nationwide curfew from 7:00 pm (1600 GMT), after earlier declaring a Baghdad curfew that demonstrators ignored.
Medics told AFP that two Sadr supporters were killed and 22 others wounded after clashes broke out in the Green Zone.
Witnesses said Sadr loyalists and supporters of a rival Shiite bloc, the pro-Iran Coordination Framework, were exchanging fire.
Security forces also fired tear gas to disperse the Sadrists at the entrance to the Green Zone, a security source told AFP.
Calling the developments “an extremely dangerous escalation”, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) urged “protesters to immediately leave” the area.
It urged “all” to “refrain from acts that could lead to an unstoppable chain of events”.
“The very survival of the state is at stake,” it said.
– ‘Definitive retirement’ –
Iraq has been mired in political deadlock since legislative elections in October last year, due to disagreement between Shiite factions over forming a coalition.
Shortly after he made his surprise declaration, Sadr’s followers entered the Republican Palace, where cabinet meetings are usually held.
Inside the opulent palace, protesters lounged in armchairs in a meeting room, as some waved Iraqi flags and took photographs of themselves, while others cooled off in a swimming pool in the garden, an AFP photographer said.
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