Car bombing kills at least 1, injures 16 in Baghdad protest square

A vehicle-borne explosive blew up late Friday in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, killing and injuring up to 18 people, the Defense Ministry said.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A vehicle-borne explosive blew up late Friday in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, killing and injuring up to 18 people, the Defense Ministry said.

“A bomb exploded under a vehicle near Baghdad’s Tahrir area, killing one civilian and wounding 16 others,” the military communications center, known as the Security Media Cell, said in a statement. Media reports varied on the number of casualties.

Reuters quoted other security sources as saying that two people had been killed. 

Another explosion on Friday night in the city of Nasiriya reportedly wounded 11 people. Six protesters are being reported killed by security forces and about 20 others injured in the past 24 hours, but details have not been confirmed.

Tahrir Square has been a base for protests in Baghdad since they began on October 1 and spread to other provinces in central and southern Iraq. Members of the security forces and paramilitary troops have been criticized for using severe and disproportionate measures to deter the demonstrations, leading to the deaths of at least 300 people and injury of 12,000 others.

Riot police, military forces, and Iran-backed militias have used live ammunition, tear gas, rubber bullets, stun grenades, and snipers to contain protests.

Demonstrations continued on Friday and the violent crackdown continued.

Amid ongoing worries by government officials about the implications of the country’s current unrest to the economy, government violence continues to be reported on social media pages, by human rights organizations, and media reports.

Those who have taken to the streets, plus many other Iraqis, have complained for years of high levels of unemployment, the dismal state of infrastructure and basic public services, and widespread government corruption, widely perceived to be at the heart of it all. Demonstrators are calling for radical change in Iraq’s political system, which they say serves the interests of a small governing elite instead of the general population. 

Editing by John J. Catherine